SoftBank offloads 2% stake worth $120 million in Paytm

Representative image

SoftBank informed the stock exchanges that it has offloaded a little over a 2 percent stake in One97 Communications Limited, the parent entity of Paytm, in order to comply with the SEBI takeover regulations.

Data sourced from the stock exchange shows that SVF India Holdings (Cayman) Ltd, a SoftBank arm, has sold 13,103,148 shares between February 10, 2023, and May 8, 2023, which represents approximately 2.07 percent of the total shareholding.

According to sources, the deal is worth nearly $120 million. Post the sale, SoftBank will have around 11.17% stake left in Paytm which is around 70,809,082 shares.

SoftBank did not comment on the development.

"SVF India Holdings (Cayman) Limited has disposed of an aggregate of 13,103,148 equity shares of One 97 Communications Limited in a series of disposals undertaken between February 10, 2023, to May 8, 2023, with the disposal on May 8, 2023, breaching the 2% threshold specified in Regulation 29(2) of the SEBI Takeover Regulations," the filing said dated May 10, 2023.

In November 2022, the investment major sold around 4.5 percent stake in Paytm for Rs 1,631 crore through an open market transaction.

Media reports also suggest that Ant Group, yet another stakeholder in Paytm, is also considering slashing some of its stake in the fintech major to comply with SEBI guidelines.

SoftBank had invested $1.6 billion in Paytm in the last quarter of 2017 and offloaded shares worth $220 million at the time of its IPO.

The sale is part of a string of divestments that SoftBank has made in the past few months. Recently, SoftBank offloaded nearly 5 percent of the equity of PB Fintech, the parent company of Policybazaar, in a block deal worth Rs 1,043 crore on the NSE.

Paytm last week saw a sharp narrowing of its consolidated net loss to Rs 168.4 crore in the fourth quarter of FY23, compared to a loss of Rs 761.4 crore in Q4 of the previous year.

Paytm's revenue from operations stood at Rs 2,334.5 crore in Q4 FY23, registering a growth of 51.5 percent from Rs 1,540.9 crore in Q4 FY22 and an increase of 13.2 percent from Rs 2,062.2 crore in Q3 FY23.