Chinese Internet giant sold 3.1% stake in Indian payment company in a block deal
Alibaba Group, which owned a 6.26% stake in Paytm at the end of September, sold the stake for 536.95 rupees apiece. Morgan Stanley acted as a consultant on the deal.
Shares of Paytm are up about 9% this year to last close after reporting strong preliminary third-quarter data. The Indian payments company closed 2022 with a 60% loss, despite the company announcing a stock buyback in December.
Paytm, officially known as One97 Communications, was incorporated in 2021 after a $2.5 billion initial public offering (IPO).
Since then, the stock has fallen about 75 percent from the IPO offering price as investors began questioning the company’s monetization plans amid fears of exorbitant valuations for tech companies and the global economic recession.
Last November, Softbank Group Corp sold a 4.5% stake in e-payment company Paytm for $200 million. SoftBank owned 17.5% of Paytm as of Sept. 30.