(Yicai Global) Feb. 20 -- Alibaba Group Holding, best known as one of China's top e-commerce players, has invested a further HKD1.81 billion (USD230 million) in China International Capital to become the investment bank's third-largest shareholders.

The Hangzhou-based  firm bought 117 million Hong Kong-listed shares from Singapore's sovereign  wealth fund GIC Private on Feb. 14, it told the Hong Kong Stock Exchange  in a filing yesterday. The deal increases the buyer's stake in CICC to 4.8 percent,  or 11.74 percent of the target's floated equity.

Shares in the  target [HKD:3908] closed up 5.8 percent at HKD17.90 (USD2.28) today  after opening at a HKD18.74 peak, beating the benchmark Hang Seng Index  which rose 1 percent throughout the day.

CICC was the first joint-venture investment bank in China and is a leading company in the country's financial sector, Alibaba said in a statement to Yicai Global the same day. It has a wealth of experience and the ability to innovate, and the two companies can combine their expertise in fintech, data and other fields to offer customers a better range of products and services, the statement added.

Only Alibaba's tech rival Tencent owns more of CICC's Hong Kong-listed shares, with a 12 percent holding. The Shenzen-based social media and gaming titan bought nearly HKD2.9 billion worth of shares in September 2017, a move that was widely believed to be the first instance of a Chinese internet titan obtaining a domestic brokerage license indirectly.

Editor: James Boynton