Lexdale International To Offload Nykaa Shares Worth INR 490 Cr

Lexdale International is reportedly looking to offload 2.62 Cr shares of beauty ecommerce giant Nykaa through open market transactions. 

Sources told CNBC-Awaaz that the deal will likely be pegged at a cumulative sum of INR 490 Cr. Brokerage firms Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan will manage the deal. 

Earlier this week, Nykaa, in its quarterly performance update, said it witnessed a consistent growth across its three business verticals in the third quarter (Q3) of the financial year 2023-24 (FY24). 

The Falguni Nayar-led company said that discretionary consumption was hit by short-term pressures during the quarter but projected the beauty and personal care (BPC) arm’s gross merchandise value (GMV) growth in Q3 FY24 to be in the mid-twenties and the fashion vertical’s GMV to grow at around 40%. 

Nykaa is also tipped to enter the MSCI Smallcap index if the stock rallies between 8-20%, as per Nuvama Alternative & Quantitative Research.

While rising competition, high inflation, and increasing customer acquisition cost bogged down the BPC giant throughout 2023, the stock somewhat recovered by the end of the year and has been on an upward spiral ever since. The shares of the company have surged more than 24% in the last 12 months, while it has gained 11% in 2024 so far. 

It must be noted that the company did not witness any major block deals in 2023. 

The uptick in stock price comes after a year of top-level exits, market volatility, and mounting competition from incumbents and new entrants such as Reliance-backed Tira, Tata CLIQ, among others. 

Shares of Nykaa closed 1.73% higher at INR 193.70 on the BSE on Thursday (December 11).