NEW DELHI: Even as the two new-age companies -- Paytm and Nykaa -- reported decent growth in revenue for the September quarter, some of their early investors are liquidating their holding post the expiry of the mandatory one-year lock-in period.
While Paytm’s second-largest shareholder, SoftBank, sold 4.5% of its stake in the fintech major on Thursday, Nykaa continues to see a flurry of high-profile bulk selling. According to exchange data, Mala Gopal Gaonkar sold Rs 1,009 crore worth of FSN E-Commerce Ventures (Nykaa) shares in a bulk deal on the BSE on Thursday.
Gaonkar sold 5.75 crore shares at an average of Rs 175.48 per share while Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought 1.7 crore Nykaa shares at Rs 175.25 apiece, BSE data showed. This came a day after Lighthouse India Fund III had sold three crore Nykaa shares worth Rs 525.39 crore in a bulk deal. These shares were sold at an average price of Rs 175.13 apiece.
The one-year lock-in period for Nykaa pre-IPO shareholders expired on November 10 and soon after the scrip turned ex-bonus. Since then, Nykaa shares are seeing huge volume trades. According to market sources, Citigroup has now launched a block deal to sell Nykaa shares worth about Rs 1,000 crore. Coming to Paytm, where the lock-in period for pre-IPO investors expired on November 15, Japan’s SoftBank is said to have sold about 29.5 million shares in the fintech firm via block deals early Thursday.
This stake sale, which is equivalent to 4.5% equity in Paytm, reportedly fetched the Japanese investment firm $215 million. The exit by SoftBank came even as the loss-making Paytm reported 76% growth in revenue for the September quarter and assured of becoming profitable by September 2023. The high profile stake sales are having a catastrophic impact on the share prices of two firms. Shares of One 97 Communications (Paytm) closed 10% lower on Thursday at Rs 640 apiece. The fall came even as the stock was down about 70% from its IPO price of 2,150 rupees.