Delhivery shares surge 7% amid block deal buzz by Carlyle

Shares of Delhivery surged more than 7 per cent during the early trading session on Thursday amid reports of a bulk deal by Carlyle, who was likely to offload its entire stake to raise about Rs 709 crore in the new-age logistics player through an open market transaction.

According to the media reports, Carlyle was likely to sell a little more than 1.84 crore equity shares, or 2.53 per cent stake, of the company through the bulk deal. The offer price for the deal was set at Rs 385.5 apiece, which was slightly less than its previous close at Rs 388.40.

The heavy trading volume on exchanges suggested that the bulk deal was executed. However, Business Today independently could not ascertain the details of buyers at the time of writing this report.

According to the data from BSE, more than 1.87 crore equity shares of Delhivery worth Rs 721.44 crore were traded till 9.50 am on Thursday. Similarly, 46.96 lakh equity shares amounting to Rs 187.89 crore exchanged hands on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) at the same time.

Amid the heavy trading volumes, shares of Delhivery jumped about 7 per cent to Rs 416.75 today, before giving up its entire gains and trading flat at Rs 389.70. The company was commanding a total market capitalization of little more than Rs 28,500 crore.

Global private equity players Carlyle Group had acquired a significant minority stake in Delhivery in March 2017. In November last year, Carlyle Group through its special purpose vehicle, CA Swift Investments, had divested a 2.5 per cent stake Delhivery for Rs 607 crore through the open market transaction.

Earlier this year, Tiger Global offloaded its stake in Delhivery through multiple block deals. The other prominent venture capital fund, through its affiliate, Internet Fund III, sold 0.75 per cent in March and another 1.6 per cent stake in the company in April.

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