PB Fintech shares rise amid block deal report by Tencent

Shares of PB Fintech surged during the trading session on Thursday amid the reported block deal by Tencent Cloud Europe. The parent company of PolicyBazaar and PaisaBazaar saw heavy trading volumes during the session, suggesting that the block deal was executed.
 

Media reports suggested that the Chinese multinational technology conglomerate Tencent is likely to sell a 2.1 per cent stake in the insuretech player through a block deal at an estimated price of Rs 1,610 crore. The floor price for the issue was likely to be Rs 1,660.2 per share, which is at a discount of 4.4 per cent over Wednesday’s closing price.
 

According to the data from BSE, more than 97 lakh equity shares of PB Fintech amounting to Rs 1,675 crore were traded as of 10.20 am on Thursday. Similarly, 7.35 lakh equity shares worth Rs 130.13 crore exchange hands on NSE as of the same time. However, Business Today independently could not ascertain the details of buyer and sellers by the time of writing this report.
 

Amid the heavy trading volumes, shares of PB Fintech Ltd jumped more than 3.4 per cent to Rs 1,796.55 on Thursday, with its total market capitalization nearing Rs 82,000 crore. The stock had settled at Rs 1737.10 in the previous trading session on Wednesday.
 

This stake sale will also trigger a 60-day lock-in period before Tencent Cloud can execute any other tranche of the sale. Previously, Tencent Cloud had offloaded another 1.2 per cent stake in PB Fintech back in May this year, making Rs 677 crore from the equity sale. Tencent Cloud Europe owned a 4.26 per cent stake in the company as of June 30, 2024.
 

PB Fintech returned to black in the June 2024 quarter as it reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 60 crore for the given period. The operator of Policybazaar clocked in a revenue at Rs 1,010 crore, up 52 per cent YoY  The total insurance premium for the Q1FY25 was reported at Rs 4,871 crore, growth of 62 per cent on a YoY basis.