Zomato Sees INR 1,127 Cr Block Deal, SoftBank Likely Seller

Shares of foodtech giant Zomato nudged higher during the early trading session on Friday (December 8), on the back of a large block deal.

Around 1.06% stake of the company or 9.35 Cr shares exchanged hands on the block deal. The shares exchanged hands at an average price of INR 120.5 apiece, taking the total transaction value to INR 1,127 Cr.

However, the buyers and sellers in the transactions are not known.

During the early session of the day, Zomato shares were trading at INR 123.6 apiece on the BSE, 1.3% up from its previous close.

On Thursday (December 7), Inc42 reported, citing multiple media reports, that Japanese tech investor SoftBank’s SVF Growth is looking to offload another 1.1% stake in Zomato in a block deal worth $135 Mn.

As per the reports, SVF Growth is expected to sell the shares at INR 120.5 apiece, which is a slight discount to Zomato’s close at INR 121.8 on the BSE on Thursday .

At the end of September 2023 quarter, SVF Growth (Singapore) Pte Ltd held a 2.17% stake in Zomato with 18.71 Cr shares. Following that, in October the Japanese investor sold a 1.1% stake, or 9.36 Cr shares, in the foodtech major.

In August this year, SVF Growth offloaded its 1.15% stake, or 10 Cr shares, in Zomato, bringing down its holding in the company to 2.17%.

Last week, another international investor Alipay exited Zomato by selling its entire 3.44% stake in the company via multiple block deals worth a cumulative INR 3,336.7 Cr. However, the shares were lapped up by investors like Morgan Stanley and Fidelity Investment. 

Investment firm Tiger Global also exited Zomato in August by selling 12.24 Cr shares worth INR 1,123 Cr, amounting to 1.44% stake.

Zomato reported its second consecutive profitable quarter, with profit after tax surging to INR 36 Cr during the September quarter of the financial year 2023-24 (FY24). This was an 18X jump from PAT of INR 2 Cr in the preceding quarter.

Meanwhile, Zomato and Swiggy, the duo, reportedly received notices for a cumulative goods and services tax (GST) worth around INR 1,000 Cr, which is the 18% tax levied on the total amount collected by them as delivery fees ever since they started offering food delivery services.

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