Tencent is in discussions to become the largest shareholder of Manus.
Beijing recently ordered Meta to unwind its US$2 billion acquisition of the AI startup, Reuters reported.
Tencent and the original investors plan to repurchase the company from Meta.
The investor consortium, which includes ZhenFund and HSG, aims to buy Manus back for at least US$2 billion, sources said.
Manus develops agentic AI tools that autonomously carry out tasks with minimal human input. The startup relocated its operations from China to Singapore last year.
Meta announced its acquisition of Manus in December to advance its artificial intelligence capabilities.
China launched a regulatory review in April to determine if the transaction violated investment rules.
The regulatory order is the latest high-profile case of China challenging cross-border technology transactions involving non-China-incorporated companies.
Last month, Meta completed an internal operational split from Manus and halted data sharing.
State media previously hailed Manus as China’s next DeepSeek after it unveiled what it described as the world’s first general AI agent.