CarTrade Bull Run: Temasek Sheds 2.2% Stake In Selling Spree

SUMMARY

This is the third large offlay by MacRitchie in its CarTrade stake in the past nine months

Year to date, CarTrade stock has zoomed over 160% and ended today's trading session at INR 1,704.70

This bull run has allowed multiple CarTrade investors like Warburg Pincus, Goldman Sachs, Société Générale to sell their holdings

As shares of CarTrade continue to embark on an upward trajectory, its early backer MacRitchie Investments, a wholly owned subsidiary of Temasek, has sold 92,000 of its shares in the car marketplace via open market transactions on March 17.

Given that the company’s shares closed Monday’s trading session at INR 1,600.85, it is likely that the investor would have netted INR 14.73 Cr.

In a disclosure shared with the BSE, CarTrade said that, with the sell off, MacRitchie’s shareholding in the company has contracted to 9.95%. It now holds 4.71 Mn shares.

MacRitchie’s Selling Spree: This is the third large offlay by MacRitchie in the past nine months. In June 2024, it sold 20.32 Lakh shares in an INR 168.2 Cr block deal. Cartrade shares were priced at INR 828 at the time.

Since then, MacRitchie has sold 9.03 Lakh equity shares “in one or more tranches”. As of December 31, 2024, it held 11.86% stake or 56.16 Lakh shares in CarTrade. The sale today constituted 2.20% of the total holding.

CarTrade Soars Since March 2024: Incidentally, since June 2024, CarTrade share prices have raced over 118%. Year to date, the stock has zoomed over 160% and ended today’s trading session at INR 1,704.70.

On Wednesday, it saw a minor 0.49% bump as most new-age tech stocks saw significant gains. But even amid a wider market crash in the past three months, the stock has gained by 10% since mid December 2024.

Investors Cash In: This bull run has allowed multiple CarTrade investors like Warburg Pincus (through Highdell Investment), Goldman Sachs, Société Générale to sell their holding and cash in on the rally.

The sell off is in-line with a general market trend. Amid market volatility, FIIs have been on a selling spree for a large part of the ongoing calendar year and the end of 2024.

Overall, foreign investors have pulled out INR 34,574 Cr from the Indian equity markets over the past month, pushing the total capital outflow from the Indian market to INR 1.12 Lakh Cr in 2025.

That, of course, is not a factor in Cartrade’s boom since June 2024. The automobile marketplace reported a net profit of INR 45.53 Cr in Q3 FY25 (December 2024) with revenue at INR 176.21 Cr. In the previous quarter, it saw an incredible 509% year-on-year spike in its consolidated net profit to INR 30.72 Cr.