BNP Paribas Picks Up INR 1,488 Cr Stake In Zomato

SUMMARY

BNP Paribas Financial Markets picked up 6,24,85,371 shares at INR 238.25 apiece, a discount of 0.2% from the stock’s last close of INR 238.75 on the BSE

The French banking major offloaded 1.88 Lakh shares of Eternal in a bulk deal totalling INR 4,35 Cr.

BNP Paribas Financial Markets also dumped 2,48,31,803 shares in beauty ecommerce major Nykaa at INR 202.81 apiece, translating into a total sum of INR 503.61 Cr

French banking giant BNP Paribas has bought 6.24 Lakh shares of foodtech major Eternal in a bulk deal worth INR 1,488.71 Cr.

As per NSE data, BNP Paribas Financial Markets picked up 6,24,85,371 shares at INR 238.25 apiece, a discount of 0.2% from the stock’s last close of INR 238.75 on the BSE on Friday. At the same time, the banking major offloaded 1.88 Lakh shares in a bulk deal totalling INR 4,35 Cr.

Not stopping there, BNP Paribas Financial Markets also dumped 2,48,31,803 shares in beauty ecommerce major Nykaa at INR 202.81 apiece, translating into a total sum of INR 503.61 Cr. The deal was executed at a discount of 0.2% compared to Nykaa’s closing price of INR 203.25 on the BSE.

It also lapped up 1,01,548 shares in Nykaa at INR 202.08 each, which totalled to INR 2.05 Cr.

With this, BNP Paribas could be looking to book profits as both stocks have been growing steadily in the past five trading sessions.

The deal comes in the backdrop of Zomato parent’s board last month approving a proposal to limit the foreign ownership in the company at 49.5%. At the time, Eternal claimed that becoming an Indian-owned-and-controlled company (IOCC) will help its quick commerce vertical Blinkit transition to an inventory ownership model from the current marketplace model.

Right after this, global index provider FTSE Russell cut Eternal’s investability weighting in its indices to 49.5% from 82.7% earlier. Brokerage firm IIFL Capital estimates that the index provider’s move could lead to an outflow of INR 3,235 Cr from the stock.

However, BNP Paribas appears to have gone against the wind and picked up the stake in the foodtech major. Notably, this comes at a time when the foodtech space is battling intensifying competition largely due to quick commerce expansion and slowing growth in core business.

The foodtech major’s net profits tanked nearly 78% to INR 39 Cr in the fourth quarter (Q4) of the fiscal year 2024-25 (FY25) from INR 175 Cr in the year ago period. Despite slowing growth in the core food delivery vertical, the company’s revenue from operations soared 64% to INR 5,833 Cr in the quarter under review from INR 3,562 Cr in Q4 FY24.

On the back of this muted growth, Eternal’s stock prices have declined 14.12% on a year-to-date (YTD) basis.

On the other hand, the Nykaa bulk deal came on the same day as the beauty and personal care (BPC) giant released its financial results. The beauty ecommerce major’s consolidated net profit surged 110% to INR 19.1 Cr in Q4 FY25 from INR 9.1 Cr in the year-ago period. Meanwhile, operating revenue soared 24% to INR 2,061.8 Cr during the quarter under review from INR 1,667.9 Cr in Q4 FY24.