Paytm shares down 2% as Jack Ma's Ant Financial sells entire stake for ₹3,803 crore; check details

Paytm share price: Ant Group, through its affiliate Antfin (Netherlands) Holding BV, offloaded the shares of Noida-based One97 Communications. Ant Group, formerly known as Ant Financial, is an affiliate company of the Chinese conglomerate Alibaba Group. Paytm block deal: Shares of One 97 Communications, the parent entity of fintech Paytm, were trading around 1.8% lower at ₹1,059 apiece on the NSE in the afternoon deals on Tuesday, August 5, after billionaire Jack Ma's Ant Financial exited the company by selling its entire 5.84% stake for around ₹3,803 crore. Ant Group, through its affiliate Antfin (Netherlands) Holding BV, offloaded the shares of Noida-based One97 Communications. Ant Group, formerly known as Ant Financial, is an affiliate company of the Chinese conglomerate Alibaba Group. According to the term sheet reviewed by PTI, the sale involves up to 37.3 million, or 3.73 crore, equity shares, or a 5.84% stake, in One97 Communications. The shares were sold at a floor price of ₹1,020 per share, which represents a discount of up to 5.4% to Paytm's closing price of ₹1,078.20 on the NSE as of Monday. At the floor price, the deal size is pegged at around ₹3,803 crore (approximately USD 434 million), PTI reported. Goldman Sachs (India) Securities and Citigroup Global Markets India are acting as the placement agents for the deal. The transaction is entirely secondary in nature and took place via one or more share sales on the NSE and BSE. The transaction was conducted as a clean-up trade, and there is no lock-up clause applicable. At the end of the June quarter, Antfin (Netherlands) Holding BV owned a 5.84% stake in Paytm. Meanwhile, Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma and his family members own the overseas entity Resilient Asset Management BV, collectively the largest shareholder by holding a combined 19.31% stake in One97 Communications. Additionally, Hong Kong-based private equity firm SAIF Partners, through its two affiliates, owned a 15.34% stake in Paytm as of June 2025, according to the shareholding data on the BSE. In May this year, Chinese fintech giant Ant Group offloaded more than 2.55 crore shares, or a 4% stake, in One97 Communications for ₹2,103 crore. Alibaba and Ant Financial were the early investors in Paytm and had infused $851 million since 2015. The company had started selling shares in the stock markets after One 97 Communications was listed in November 2021. Paytm Q1 FY26 Earnings One97 Communications reported its first-ever consolidated net profit at ₹122.5 crore in the quarter ended June 2025, mainly on account of cost optimisation and an increase in payment revenue. Paytm had posted a net loss of ₹840 crore in the year-ago period. "EBITDA and PAT turned profitable at ₹72 crore and ₹123 crore, respectively, demonstrating AI-led operating leverage, disciplined cost structure and higher other income," Paytm said in a statement. The company slashed marketing and promotional expenses by more than half to ₹99.8 crore during the reported quarter from ₹221.4 crore a year ago and ₹142.7 crore in the March 2025 quarter. (With inputs from PTI)