Zomato, Paytm shares drop on report SoftBank may sell stakes over next few sessions

Shares of Zomato and One 97 Communications (Paytm) were in focus on Friday's morning amid a media report quoting sources suggested that SoftBank may sell shares in the two listed companies in small tranches over the next few sessions through block deals. SoftBank was looking to book profits following the recent rise in shares, Moneycontrol reported.

The investment bank paid around Rs 65-70 apiece for Zomato and Rs 830-840 for Paytm, the report suggested. Shares of Paytm were trading 0.60 per cent lower at Rs 887.55 on BSE. Zomato shares, on the other hand, were down 0.65 per cent at Rs 74.62.

Zomato has risen 25 per cent this year so far while Paytm shares have jumped 66 per cent during the same period.  The stock has been rising on improving business prospects and recent 'Buy' ratings by a host of brokerages with price targets around Rs 850 level.

The fresh report came weeks after another media firm reported that SoftBank was in talks with four to five Indian start-ups, with valuations of around $400 to $500 million, to invest and support them in their next stage of growth. That report had suggested that the investment bank was eyeing start-ups in the areas of B2C space, enterprise, and media.

The Tokyo-based investment bank was planning to inject $50-100 million into each of these companies, which is far less than its earlier rounds of investment in Indian start-ups, the Business Standard report had suggested.

SoftBank had in May offloaded about 2 per cent stake in Paytm for $120 million. Earlier this week, it sold a part of its stake in Lenskart to private equity firm ChrysCapital. According to a Moneycontrol, the investment firm yielded over $70 million from the stake sale.

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