Taobao acquires 20%slice of retailer Suning

Taobao, an online platform of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, has acquired 1.861 billion shares from Suning Commerce Group for 28.2 billion yuan ($4.28 billion), making it the second-biggest shareholder of the country's largest home appliances retailer with a stake of just under 20 percent.

That's according to a statement made by Suning on Thursday which saw its stock price advance strongly.

Suning's share surged 6.24 percent on Friday to 11.75 yuan per share.