By Nesil Staney
Ant Group, part of Chinese global conglomerate Alibaba Group, sold 4% stake in digital payments firm Paytm’s parent One97 Communications through block deals on Tuesday.
Shares were sold in the price range of Rs 823.30-Rs 836.04 each, reflecting a 5-6% discount to the market price, according to BSE filings. The sale comes amid shifting geopolitical dynamics and portfolio rebalancing by foreign investors.
Shares of the company on Tuesday ended 1.13% lower at Rs 856.55 on the BSE. The stock is down 13.3% year to date.
Investment banking firm Goldman Sachs, through its arm Goldman Sachs (Singapore), acquired 3.74 million shares, or a 0.59% stake, in One97 Communications for Rs 307.43 crore. The identity of other buyers and the details of their average buy prices were not available. In total, Ant Group sold 25.51 million shares of One97 Communications.
Goldman Sachs and Citigroup were the placement agents for the deal. Post sale, Ant Group’s stake in Paytm parent will drop from 9.85% to around 5.85%. The move is part of a broader trend of selldown by other global investors, including Berkshire Hathway and Softbank, both of which pared their holdings in the company over the last two years. Ant Group, along with Alibaba, had invested $851 million in Paytm.
The company started selling shares in the stock markets after One97 Communications was listed in November 2021.
One97 Communications has several subsidiaries, including Paytm and Paytm Money. It is a multinational technology company and a digital ecosystem for consumers and merchants, offering a variety of services, including payments, financial services and commerce. It owns and operates the Paytm brand.
Paytm’s services are utilised by a diverse customer base, including individual consumers and merchants, across various industries for transactions and financial management. It has over 4,500 employees.
Last week, the firm reported narrowing its losses to Rs 545 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, compared with Rs 551 crore in the same period a year ago. Revenue from operations dropped 15.7% to Rs 1,911.5 crore during the quarter, from Rs 2,267.1 crore in the year-ago period.
Chief executive Vijay Shekhar Sharma said after earnings that the company expects to turn profitable from the June quarter (Q1FY26).