Alibaba’s Antfin To Divest 4% Stake In Paytm For INR 2,200 Cr

Chinese tech giant Alibaba group’s company Antfin is reportedly looking to sell up to 4% stake in Paytm worth INR 2,200 Cr through block deals.

A Moneycontrol report, citing sources privy to the development, said that Antfin is expected to sell the shares in the fintech major at a floor price of INR 809.75 per share. 

The floor price represents a 6% discount to the closing price of the Paytm stock today. 

Multinational brokerage firms Citigroup and Goldman Sachs will be managing the proposed block trade, the report added.

As per today’s BSE data, a total of 2.1 Lakh (2,10,081) Paytm shares were traded, with 51,869 shares marked for delivery.

Earlier in 2023, Inc42 reported that Chinese internet giant Ant Group offloaded a 3.6% stake in Paytm on August 25 for INR 2,037 Cr through open market transactions.

Antfin (Netherlands) Holding B.V. sold 2.27 Cr shares of One97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm, at INR 895.2 per share, according to bulk and block deal data from the BSE. The subsidiary of Ant Group sold the shares in 14 tranches.

Societe Generale, Morgan Stanley Asia Singapore Pte, Citigroup Global Markets Mauritius Private Ltd, BNP Paribas Arbitrage, Goldman Sachs (Singapore) Pte, Motilal Oswal Fund, and Nippon India Mutual Fund, among others, were the buyers of the offloaded Paytm shares.

The development comes at a time when Paytm is intensifying its push towards profitability. Currently, it is focussing on its key businesses– payments, lending, and merchant services.

In the march quarter Q4 FY2025, the fintech major reported a consolidated net loss of INR 544.6 Cr, a decline of 1% from INR 550.5 Cr loss it incurred in the year-ago quarter. Sequentially, the company’s loss grew 118% from INR 208.5 Cr. 

Its operating revenue for the quarter under review dipped 19% YoY to INR 1,911.5 Cr from INR 2,267.1 Cr in Q4 FY24. Sequentially, this marked a 5% increase from INR 1,827.8 Cr operating revenue.

Meanwhile, in April, Sharma voluntarily gave up 2.1 Cr unvested employee stock options (ESOPs), which had come under the scanner of markets regulator SEBI. “Mr. Vijay Shekhar Sharma… vide letter dated April 16, 2025 has informed the company that he has voluntarily forgone all 2,10,00,000 (Two Crore Ten Lakhs) ESOPs granted to him under One 97 Employees Stock Option Scheme, 2019, with immediate effect,” One 97 Communications said in an exchange filing at the time of the development.

Following this, the stock options were cancelled and returned to the ESOP pool.

Shares of Paytm ended today’s trading session 4.06% higher at INR 866.35 on the BSE.