(Yicai Global) April 4 -- Four major shareholders SF Express, listed as SF Holdings, plan to sell up to 7.9 percent of the Chinese courier in deals worth around CNY13 billion (USD1.9 billion).

Suzhou Industrial Park Yuanhe Shunfeng Equity Investment Enterprise, which holds a more than 5.6 percent stake in the Shenzhen-based firm, plans to sell up to 1.5 percent of the company through block trades and central bidding over the next three months, SF said in a statement yesterday.

Ningbo Shunda Fengrun Investment Management Partnership, which holds over 8.3 percent and is the company's employee stock ownership fund, wants to sell 3 percent over the next half year; Jiaqiang Shunfeng Shenzhen Equity Investment Partnership, a 5 percent stakeholder, plans to sell up to 3 percent over the next three months, and SF supervisory board member Liu Jilu plans to sell around 0.4 percent, about a fifth of his holdings, over the next two quarters.

Yesterday's CNY37.30 (USD5.56) closing price values each 1 percent in the company at about CNY1.65 billion, though the price had fallen 3.51 percent to CNY35.99 at today's lunch break.

The four shareholders all said they were selling the shares as they needed cash. SF made CNY4.6 billion in net profit last year, down 4.57 percent annually while revenue climbed 27.6 percent to CNY90.9 billion.

Jiaqiang Shunfeng and Yuanhe Shunfeng invested in SF Holding in September 2013. The former, founded just weeks earlier, has registered capital of CNY2.4 billion and lists China Cinda Asset Management and Bank of China Investment Asset Management among its shareholders. Yuanhe Shunfeng, formed September 2013, has CNY2.6 billion in registered capital and counts China Life Insurance Group and Pacific Asset Management among its backers.

Editor: James Boynton