Paytm plunges 10%, volumes jump 26x amid SoftBank stake sale reports

Shares of One 97 Communications (Paytm) plunged 10 per cent in Thursday’s trade, as volumes on the counter spurted nearly 26 times on BSE, as Softbank probably sold $215 million worth Paytm shares in a block deal.

SoftBank had a 17.5 per cent stake in the fintech company, as of September 30 and as per the term sheet, seen by Reuters, the Softbank was looking to sell $215 million worth of Paytm shares in the range of Rs 555-Rs 601.45 via block deals.

The one-year lock-in for pre-IPO Paytm investors got expired on Wednesday. The lower end of the SoftBank price band at Rs 555 was at a 7.73 per cent discount to Paytm's Wednesday's closing prce of

The final price in the sale was to be set later on Thursday.

The scrip tanked 10.01 per cent to hit a low of Rs 541.30 on BSE. A total of 32.41 lakh shares changed hands on the counter against a two-week average of 1.24 lakh shares on BSE.

The scrip had declined 3.92 per cent on Tuesday and 1.96 per cent on Monday. With fresh losses, the stock has fallen 15 per cent in three days.

The company recently reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 571 crore for the September quarter compared with Rs 644 crore in the June quarter and Rs 472.90 crore in the year-ago quarter.

The company's revenue jumped 76 per cent year-on-year and 14 per cent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 1,914 crore with growth in lending, expansion in merchant subscriptions, and momentum in commerce and cloud with growth in advertising, resumption of ticketing volumes, credit cards and PAI cloud.

Paytm shares hit a 52-week low of Rs 511 on May 12.

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