Temasek, JP Morgan, Warburg Pincus Offload CarTrade Shares Worth INR 535 Cr

Temasek, JP Morgan and Warburg Pincus cumulatively offloaded 64.57 Lakh shares of auto marketplace CarTrade via separate bulk deals on Monday (June 24) for INR 535.03 Cr. 

As per BSE and NSE data, private equity (PE) major Warburg Pincus-owned Highdell Investment sold 40.65 Lakh shares for INR 828.58 apiece. This translates into a sum of INR 336.8 Cr. 

Meanwhile, Temasek’s affiliate MacRitchie Investments sold 20.32 Lakh shares for INR 828 apiece in an INR 168.2 Cr block deal. JP Morgan’s PE fund CMDB II also dumped 3.6 Lakh shares for INR 29.92 Cr at INR 830.27 apiece.

Highdell Investment held a 17.36% stake in the startup at the end of the March quarter of 2024, while MacRitchie owned a 16.31% stake.

The shares that flooded the markets were lapped up by Societe Generale, Verition Fund Management, Royal Bank of Scotland, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, CLSA Global Markets, among others. 

While Societe Generale picked up 5.95 Lakh shares, Verition bought 5.04 Lakh shares. Additionally, Goldman Sachs India Equity Portfolio and HSBC Global Investment funds bought 6.19 Lakh shares and 4.34 Lakh shares, respectively. 

Last week, CarTrade said that it received a demand notice from the Income Tax (I-T) Department for a shortfall in payment or collection of tax deducted at source (TDS) or tax collected at source (TCS).

The company said that the notice would have “no material impact” on its financial and operational performance.

Earlier today, CarTrade shares slipped 4.3% during the early trading hours on the bourses on Monday. However, the stock pared some of the loss later and closed the day 2.33% lower at INR 836.95 on the BSE. 

Last month, Taiyo Greater India Fund also offloaded 2.65 Lakh shares of CarTrade in a bulk deal worth INR 21.7 Cr. In March, CarTrade’s pre-IPO shareholder March Capital also dumped almost 9.5 Lakh shares of the company in bulk deals worth over INR 70 Cr.

It is pertinent to note that the stock has surged nearly 17.3% on a year-to-date (YTD) basis, while it has jumped more than 75% in the past 12 months. 

CarTrade returned to the black in the fourth quarter (Q4) of the fiscal year 2023-24 (FY24) with a net profit of INR 25 Cr compared to a loss of INR 23.5 Cr in the preceding quarter. Meanwhile, operating revenue surged 51.5% YoY to INR 145.3 Cr in Q4 FY24.