PE fund sells $129 million of shares in Zhongsheng

General Atlantic last night sold a 3.5% stake in Chinese retailer Zhongsheng Group Holdings, raising HK$999.7 million $129 million. This was the third sale by the private equity fund since Zhongsheng listed in Hong Kong two years ago, but its first since January last year.

The company’s share price had gained 23% since March 21 on the back of strong 2011 earnings and was well on its way towards the previous peak of HK$17.14 that it hit in early February. During the past week, however, the stock had seemed to be struggling to move much above the HK$16 level and General Atlantic chose to sell even...