SoftBank’s Stake Sale Continues, Offloads 1.14 Cr PB Fintech Shares Worth INR 914 Cr

Japanese investment major SoftBank offloaded 2.53% of its stake in PB Fintech in multiple block deals worth a cumulative INR 913.7 Cr.

SoftBank’s SVF Python II (Cayman) Limited held 1.97 Cr shares, or a 4.39% stake, in the parent entity of the insurtech platform Policybazaar in the quarter ended September 2023. 

Following the deal on Friday (December 16) involving 1.14 Cr shares, SoftBank is now expected to hold 83.23 Lakh shares in PB Fintech.

The offloaded shares were lapped up by Societe Generale, HDFC Mutual Fund, Goldman Sachs (Singapore) Pte, Smallcap World Fund, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Limited, and a few others.

While Societe Generale and HDFC Mutual Fund bought 15.5 Lakh PB Fintech shares each in block deals, Government Pension Fund Global bought 16.5 Lakh offloaded shares. New World Fund lapped up 16.4 Lakh shares from SVF Python II’s offloaded stake.

SoftBank’s stake sale in PB Fintech comes a year after the Japanese conglomerate sold over 5% stake in the company last year.

Following SoftBank’s stake sale, shares of PB Fintech fell 2.3%, ending Friday’s session at INR 789.45 on the BSE.

SoftBank’s stake sale in PB Fintech comes a week after it offloaded 9.35 Cr shares of foodtech giant Zomato in an INR 1,127 Cr block deal last Friday, likely exiting the company.

In November, SVF Doorbell (Cayman) had also offloaded 2.5% of its stake in logistics unicorn Delhivery for almost INR 740 Cr. 

The Japanese investment major has been cutting its shareholding in most Indian listed entities since last year amid its increasing losses.

Meanwhile, PB Fintech has been seeing an improvement in its bottom line for the last few quarters. Its net loss declined over 89% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 21 Cr in Q2 FY24. The fintech major also reported its third consecutive adjusted EBITDA-positive quarter in Q2.

On Friday, PB Fintech also informed the exchanges that Income Tax (IT) officials ‘visited’ the offices of its subsidiary Paisabazaar earlier this week.