Ola Electric shares jump 10% after CEO Bhavish Aggarwal completes stake sale to repay Rs 260-crore loan

Ola Electric share price

The shares of Ola Electric Mobility jumped nearly 10 percent on December 19 after the company announced that its promoter and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal has completed the sale of a small portion of his personal shareholding to repay a loan and remove all promoter pledges.

The shares of the electric scooter-maker rose to Rs 34.38 apiece in the morning trading hours of Friday, snapping a three-session losing streak.

Here's what Ola Electric said:

In an exchange filing released in the post-market hours of December 18, Ola Electric Mobility said that Bhavish Aggarwal has sold a portion of his stake to fully repay promoter-level loan of approximately Rs 260 crore. This completely eliminates all promoter pledges, as it releases all 3.93 percent shares previously pledged for the loan.

"Following the transaction, the promoter group continues to hold 34.6% in Ola Electric, with no dilution of promoter control or change in long-term commitment. This was a planned, time-bound exercise executed entirely at the promoter’s personal level and has no impact on the company’s performance, operations, or strategic direction," the company said.

Ola Electric share price:

Ola Electric shares had fallen more than 17 percent in just three sessions as founder and promoter Bhavish Aggarwal consistently sold part of his stake. As a result, the stock dropped sharply to hit an all-time high of Rs 30.76 per share on December 18. It lost more than 80 percent from record high of Rs 157.4 on August 20 last year.

More than 19.42 million shares have been traded on Friday so far, as seen at 11:02 am. This is nearly 4.8 times their 30-day moving average. On Thursday, Bhavish Aggarwal sold 0.6 percent stake in the company for Rs 90.28 crore through a bulk deal. He sold 2.83 crore shares for Rs 31.90 each, at an over 3 percent discount to the stock's closing price on Wednesday.

Bhavish Aggarwal had informed exchanges on December 16 that he had undertaken a one-time, limited monetisation of a small portion of his personal stake to fully repay a promoter level loan amounting to Rs 260 crore.

"This action is taken to eliminate all promoter pledges, which can introduce avoidable risk and volatility. It is part of the founder's conviction that Ola Electric should operate with zero pledge overhang, and he should fully unwind the leverage," he said.

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