(Yicai Global) June 19 -- CP Lotus has asked its parent CP Holding BVI Investment to fork out HKD425 million (USD54 million) to privatize the Chinese supermarket chain after its stock price has sat chronically below HKD0.1 (USD0.01) for nearly four months.

CP Lotus has asked the parent to pay HKD0.11 per common share to stakeholders after CP Holding requested the subsidiary draw up a privatization proposal, the listed firm said in a statement yesterday.

Shares in the firm [HKG:0121] closed 4.2 percent higher at HKD0.1 yesterday and were up 3 percent but still at HKD0.1 at the lunch break today.

The supermarket chain -- which had 80 stores across China last year -- lost CNY288 million (USD41.7 million) last year, despite revenue rising 4.8 percent to CNY10 billion (USD1.5 billion) and a net profit of CNY179 million in 2017. It lost a combined CNY1.1 billion from 2012 through 2016.

Lotus entered China as an affiliate of Thailand's Charoen Pokphand Group in 1997, and hopes it can return to glory by shifting toward an online-to-offline business model and shoring up ties with major e-commerce platforms like JD.Com, Alibaba's Tmall and China's app-for-everything Meituan Dianping.

Editor: James Boynton