(Yicai) Nov. 17 -- HHLR Advisors, the stock-market-focused investment firm under private equity giant Hillhouse Capital, ramped up its holdings in Chinese e-commerce giants Pinduoduo and Alibaba Group Holding in the third quarter but sold off its entire stake in their rival JD.com.

HHLR added 1.6 million shares of Pinduoduo in the three months ended Sept. 30, raising its holdings to 8.6 million shares worth USD1.1 billion, the Cayman-based hedge fund said on Nov. 15. This maintains the Shanghai-based company’s position as the fund’s largest holding, accounting for 27.8 percent of HHLR’s portfolio.

HHLR also hiked its holdings of Hangzhou-based Alibaba by 2.1 million shares to 3.3 million. Worth USD588 million, Alibaba now accounts for 14.4 percent of the fund’s portfolio, making it the second-largest holding.

HHLR also bought into Baidu again, after previously exiting the Beijing-based internet giant. This time it purchased 1.6 million shares worth USD216.2 million, making Baidu the sixth-largest holding with 5.3 percent of the portfolio.

Driven by the artificial intelligence boom, Chinese tech stocks have generally been on the rise this year. Pinduoduo’s share price [NASDAQ:PDD] jumped 26 percent in the third quarter, Alibaba’s stock [NYSE:BABA] soared 58 percent and Baidu’s share price [NASDAQ:BIDU] surged 54 percent.

However, HHLR also pared stakes in eight companies in the three months ended Sept. 30, including JD.com, new energy vehicle startup Li Auto, logistics giant ZTO Express and discount e-commerce Vipshop Holdings.

JD.com has been aggressively expanding into food delivery services this year, going head to head with industry giants Meituan and Alibaba-backed Ele.me and putting great pressure on its profits. The Beijing-based company’s net profit plunged 55 percent in the third quarter from a year ago to CNY5.3 billion (USD746 million), even though revenue soared 15 percent to CNY299.1 billion (USD42 billion).

HHLR’s portfolio was composed of 33 stocks as of Sept. 30, including five new purchases, four with increased positions and four with reduced holdings. The portfolio’s total value surged by USD1 billion from the end of the previous quarter to USD4.1 billion, with over 90 percent of the holdings in Chinese stocks.

Editor: Kim Taylor