Goldman Sachs sells 44.20 lakh shares worth Rs 183 crore in Paytm via block deal

Goldman Sachs Singapore Pte sold 44.20 lakh shares of One 97 Communications on Tuesday via block deal at a price of Rs 183.44 crore. The private equity firm sold Paytm shares at Rs 415.04 apiece, which was at a discount of 2.3% over Friday’s closing price of Rs 424.90.

On Tuesday, Paytm shares ended at Rs 417.10 on the BSE, down by Rs 7.80 or 1.84%. The details of the buyers were not available on the BSE at the time of filing the story.

As per the shareholding data of One 97 Communications available on the BSE, Goldman Sachs Singapore held 84,01,067 shares or 1.32% stake in the fintech payment platform.

Paytm shares on Tuesday settled in the red, breaking their two-sessions winning streak.

The stock was in news amidst reports of discussions to divest its movie ticketing business to Zomato. Initially surging by over 4% in early BSE trading, the shares retreated to Rs 411.65 during afternoon trading. Meanwhile, Zomato‘s shares saw a modest 1% increase, reaching Rs 189.In an exchange filing, Zomato acknowledged, “We are in discussions with Paytm for the aforementioned transaction, but no binding decision has been taken at this stage that would warrant a board approval and subsequent disclosure in accordance with applicable law.”Zomato added, “This discussion is intended to further strengthen our ‘Going-out’ business and aligns with our focus on our four key businesses currently.”ET reported on June 16 that Zomato is looking to acquire Paytm’s movie booking and events unit, in a deal that may value Paytm’s vertical at around Rs 1,600-1,750 crore. Post the addition of receivables from cinema exhibitors, the valuation could go up to Rs 2,000 crore, according to sources.

Paytm also confirmed discussions regarding the potential transfer of its entertainment business in an exchange filing, stating that all the discussions are preliminary and non-binding at this stage.

If the transaction goes through, it will be among the largest buyouts for Zomato after it acquired Uber Eats in 2020 and took over quick commerce platform Blinkit (formerly Grofers) in 2021 in an all-stock deal valued at Rs 4,447 crore.

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