SoftBank sells another 2% stake in Paytm, offloads worth Rs 3,800 crore shares in FY24

Japanese investment giant SoftBank has sold an additional 2 per cent stake in Paytm's parent company, One97 Communications, over the last month through open market operations, a media report said on Wednesday.

The investment firm has sold its shares worth Rs 3,800 crore in Paytm during the ongoing fiscal year (FY24), reports Entrackr.

The firm offloaded shares worth Rs 2,840 crore across three tranches -- May, July and December 2023 -- and the fourth tranche concluded earlier this week.

The storied investor's stake in Paytm has been reduced by 61.78 per cent due to a back-to-back dilution. According to data sourced from stock exchange filings, SoftBank's stake in Paytm has decreased from 13.24 per cent at the beginning of FY24 to just a little over 5 per cent, the report mentioned.

SoftBank has been reducing its stake in Indian startups via public market deals.

Besides selling its stake in Paytm in tranches over the past year, SoftBank's venture capital fund, SVF Growth (Singapore), has also exited the online food delivery platform Zomato, earning about Rs 1,125 crore.

In December last year, reports said that SoftBank sold its stock worth $310 million in a second round sale in mother and child care e-commerce platform FirstCry.

Since its launch in 2018, SoftBank has earned $5.5 billion through exits from its Indian portfolio as of August 2023.

The investment firm is expected to make more partial or full exits in the future.