Goldman Sachs, Marshall Wace Offload Paytm Shares Worth INR 208 Cr

Goldman Sachs and Marshall Wace together offloaded Paytm shares worth INR 208.35 Cr via bulk and block deals on Tuesday (June 18).

As per the information available with the exchanges, Goldman Sachs (Singapore) PTE sold 4.42 Lakh shares of Paytm at INR 415.1 apiece. This translates to a deal size of about INR 183 Cr.

As per Paytm’s shareholding pattern for the March quarter of 2024, Goldman Sachs (Singapore) PTE held 1.32% stake, or 84.01 Lakh equity shares, in the company. 

Meanwhile, Marshall Wace Investment Strategies – Eureka Fund sold 5.85 Lakh shares of Paytm for INR 425.05 in a block deal. This translates to a deal size of about INR 25 Cr.

The shares sold by Marshall Wace were lapped up by BNP Paribas.

This is the second such deal by Marshall Wace in two trading sessions. Last week, it offloaded 5.85 Lakh shares of Paytm in an INR 25 Cr block deal. 

The latest development comes amid regulatory troubles at Paytm. The fintech major’s stock has been under selling pressure since the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced curbs on Paytm Payments Bank in January citing “material supervisory concerns”.

The central bank barred the payments bank from undertaking any deposits or processing any UPI transactions. 

Hit by the curbs, Paytm’s revenue from operations declined 2.9% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 2,267.10 Cr in the fourth quarter (Q4) of the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) as net loss ballooned 3X YoY to INR 550.5 Cr during the same period. 

Earlier this week, Neeraj Arora resigned as the non-executive independent director of the fintech major citing his preoccupation and other personal commitments. Following this, the company appointed ex-SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) board member Rajeev Krishnamuralilal Agarwal as his replacement. 

Inc42 also recently reported that the troubled fintech juggernaut was asking employees to resign voluntarily or face disciplinary action. The fintech major has also been looking to retrieve various bonuses already paid to the employees. The company denied these allegations.

The fintech giant is currently undertaking a restructuring exercise as it looks to realign its business and turn its attention back to core digital payments and financial services businesses. 

As part of this, Paytm is also in talks with foodtech major Zomato to sell its online ticketing business in a deal reportedly pegged at INR 1,500 Cr. It also struck a partnership with Samsung Wallet for flight, bus, movie, and event ticket bookings. 

As a result, the stock has seen some upward movement in the past one week. The stock is now trading above the INR 400 level for the first time since April this year. 

On Tuesday, Paytm shares closed 1.84% lower at INR 417.10 on the BSE.