E-COMMERCE giant Alibaba has joined a recent wave of corporate investments in little-known listed firms, providing a much-needed boost for Hong Kong’s lackluster stock market before the Lunar New Year break.

    Alibaba and Yunfeng Capital, a private equity firm co-founded by Alibaba chairman Jack Ma, said they had agreed to buy a controlling stake in Citic 21CN, a loss-making drug data firm, for HK$1.33 billion (US$177 million). They will get 4.4 billion new shares in Citic 21CN — a 54.3 percent stake.

    Alibaba’s acquisition of the thinly traded company, coming shortly after Internet rival Tencent’s HK$1.5 billion investment in China South City this month.

    Given persistent weakness in global stock markets as investors fret over growth momentum on the mainland and the United States’ shaky recovery, investors have switched focus to small-cap stocks with special investment stories.

    Earlier this month, Henry Cheng’s International Entertainment Corp. attracted investor attention after it said it was in talks to buy 70 percent of Suncity International, a leading junket operator in Macao, for HK$7.35 billion. Shares in IEC have risen more than fivefold in the past six months.

    Alibaba’s acquisition of the unprofitable data firm, partly owned by mainland conglomerate CITIC Group, had some market watchers suggesting that Alibaba could be planning a backdoor listing or reverse takeover.(SD-Agencies)