(Yicai Global) Nov. 17 -- Meituan’s shares dropped after Tencent Holdings said it will hand most of its stake in the Chinese food delivery giant to shareholders as a dividend.

After tumbling as much as 8.2 percent earlier today, Meituan [HKG: 3690] ended down 5.7 percent at HKD153 (USD19.55) a share.

Tencent will distribute 958.1 million shares of Meituan, worth HKD159.4 billion (USD20.3 billion), as an interim dividend, the Shenzhen-based tech giant said yesterday. That equals 15.5 percent of Meituan’s total shares. Tencent owns 17 percent of the company.

Beijing-based Meituan said it will continue its mutually beneficial business relationship with Tencent, including the continuation of an existing strategic cooperation agreement.

Tencent President Martin Lau will also step down as a Meituan board member.

This is not the first time that Tencent has dished out shares as dividends. Last December, it offloaded 457.3 million of JD.Com shares, cutting its stake in the e-commerce giant to 2.3 percent from 17 percent. Lau also exited JD’s board.

Tencent has equity in a number of key Chinese internet firms. It owns 15.5 percent of e-commerce platform Pinduoduo, 17 percent of short video platform Kuaishou, 10.1 percent of e-commerce platform Vip Shop, and 11.1 percent of video site Bilibili.

Editor: Futura Costaglione