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By Bloomberg

Alibaba Pictures Group Ltd. regained the value lost in the aftermath of an accounting scandal, rising the most in five months as Chinese actress Zhao Wei and her husband bought a $400 million stake in Jack Ma’s film studio.

The entertainment arm of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. finished trading in Hong Kong with a market capitalization of HK$34.7 billion ($4.5 billion), more than five times its value when Ma’s e-commerce giant announced plans to acquire the company in March. Shares closed Tuesday at HK$1.65, a 5.1 percent increase to the highest price since Aug. 6.

Alibaba Pictures disclosed Monday night that Gold Ocean Media Inc., a company controlled by Zhao’s husband, Huang Youlong, purchased 9.2 percent stake in the filmmaker, making the couple its second-largest shareholder.

“Ma Yun and Zhao Wei are pretty close,” said Li Yujie, an analyst at RHB Research Institute Sdn in Hong Kong, using Ma’s Chinese name. “Ma hasn’t had much experience in the movie business before so he would need help from people in the industry.”

Zhao, whose acting credits include “Shaolin Soccer” and John Woo’s “Red Cliff” series, is also a pop singer and film director. She has posted photos of herself and Ma painting together, and she thanked Ma for donating to her charity for disadvantaged children, according to her official Weibo account.

Accounting Scandal

Alibaba bought an $800 million stake in the Chinese film company last year before the e-commerce company’s record initial public offering, as part of Ma’s quest to build a portfolio of movies and TV programming. The studio said Monday it expects to report a loss of as much as HK$600 million for the 2014 fiscal year due to production delays, advertising-sales declines and asset-impairment provisions.

Alibaba Pictures has blamed misstated tax payments and other accounting on lax internal controls by the company’s previous management team, raising questions about Alibaba’s due diligence before the deal.

The company’s first picture will be called “Bai Du Ren,” which means the ferryman, and will be directed by Wong Kar Wai.

Golden Ocean bought 1.93 billion shares of Alibaba Pictures at an average of HK$1.60 each, for a total of HK$3.09 billion.

A spokeswoman for Alibaba Group declined to comment.