Chinese e-commerce major Alibaba on Friday divested its remaining 3.3 per cent direct stake in One97 Communications, which operates under the Paytm brand, for Rs 1,378 crore through an open market transaction.
However, the company’s group firm Ant Financial continues to hold around 25 per cent stake in Paytm and remains the biggest shareholder of the digital financial services firm. The latest transaction marks Alibaba’s exit from direct shareholding in Indian entities. As per bulk deal data available with the National Stock Exchange (NSE), Alibaba.com Singapore E-Commerce offloaded 2,14,31,822 shares, amounting to 3.3 per cent stake in Paytm.
The shares were sold at an average price of Rs 642.74 apiece, taking the aggregate value to Rs 1,377.50 crore. “With this deal, Alibaba has sold its entire direct stake in Paytm. It no longer holds a direct stake in any of the Indian entities,” a source told PTI. During the day, Morgan Stanley Asia sold 5.23 lakh shares for Rs 667.66 apiece and bought 54.23 lakh shares for Rs 640 per scrip. Alibaba directly held 6.26 per cent stake in Paytm as of the December 2022 quarter.
In January, Alibaba had sold around 3 per cent stake. Rest of the direct stake was offloaded in Friday’s trade. The development follows Alibaba’s stake sale in BigBasket and Zomato. In 2021, Alibaba sold its entire stake in BigBasket. Later in November 2022, it offloaded its direct stake in online food delivery platform Zomato. Alibaba continues to hold an indirect stake in Zomato through its group entities, including Antfin Singapore Holding Pte Ltd.
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