In a block deal, 3.4 per cent equity (or 21 million shares) of Paytm’s parent company One97 Communications Ltd (OCL) changed hands on Friday.
Sources with knowledge of the matter say that Chinese multinational company Alibaba has sold its entire stake in Paytm in today’s block deal.
With this sale, Alibaba is no longer a stakeholder in Paytm. The company sold about 3.1 per cent of its 6.26 per cent equity in Paytm in January.
This latest deal has almost completed Alibaba’s exit from India as it had earlier sold its stake in Zomato and BigBasket. This news will bring cheer to the market as it ends Chinese stake in domestic Paytm.
Paytm shares have gained momentum in the last few days after announcing operating profitability in its Q3FY23 results with EBITDA before ESOP cost of Rs 31 crore, well ahead of its guidance of September 2023.
The fintech giant’s revenue from operations rose to Rs 2,062 crore (no UPI incentive was recorded in the quarter), a growth of 42 per cent YoY. Paytm then gave a strong operating update for January 2023, which it filed with the stock exchange on February 8.
The company has witnessed sustained growth momentum in its core payments and lending business. Paytm consolidated its leadership in offline payments with a deployment of 6.1 million devices, while an average MTU of 89 million, registering a growth of 29 percent in the month of January 2023.