Shares of One97 Communications, which operates India’s largest payments platform Paytm, slipped 10 per cent to Rs 541.40 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in Thursday’s intra-day trade after nearly 6 per cent equity of the company changed hands on the exchange via block deals.
Till 09:22 am, around 38 million shares, representing 6 per cent equity capital of Paytm, had changed hands on the NSE, the exchange data shows.
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While the names of the buyers and sellers could not be ascertained immediately, a Business Standard report said SoftBank planned to offload 29 million shares in One97 Communications.
The global tech investor was expected to offer shares in the range of Rs 555-Rs 601.45 via block deals, to be executed on Thursday. The floor price for the share sale is nearly 8 per cent lower than Paytm’s Wednesday’s closing price of Rs 601.6. The share sale comes close on the heels of the end of one-year post-IPO lock up period on Paytm shares.
Currently, Paytm shares are 75 per cent below its IPO price of Rs 2,150 per share. Paytm came out with a Rs 18,300 crore IPO in November 2021. The stock had hit a record low of Rs 511 on May 12, 2022.
SoftBank Vision Fund (SVF) held around 113 million, or 17.45 per cent stake, in Paytm. Following the share sale, its stake will decline to around 13.1 per cent. CLICK HERE FOR FULL REPORT