Zomato shares fall 4% amid more stake sale buzz by SoftBank

Shares of Zomato dropped around 4 per cent during Friday's trading session amid fears of another round of heavy-selling by select private equity players, who may sell their stake after their lock-in post Blinkit deal, suggested a report by CNBC-TV18 citing sources.

According to the report, early investors including Japanese multinational investor SoftBank may offload their stake in Zomato after the expiry of their lock-in of equity shares post Blinkit deal. The lock-in for the investors ends on Friday, August 25.

Shares of Zomato dropped about 4 per cent to Rs 90.46 on Friday, before recovering slightly with a market capitalization of close to Rs 78,500 crore. The stock had settled at Rs 93.79 on Thursday. Shares of Zomato have rallied more than 110 per cent from its 52-week low at 44.35, hit on January 25, 2023.

According to the data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE), more than 3.70 crore shares of Zomato worth Rs 339 crore exchanged hands as of 1.10 pm on Friday. Similarly, 17.30 lakh equity shares worth Rs 15.8 crore were traded on BSE at the same time, the data suggests.

SoftBank owns 3.35 per cent stake in the food delivery aggregator Zomato, while the lock-in for other investors including Sequoia Capital and TigerGlobal also expires this week. As a result, the shares received during the Blinkit deal will unlock for trading on Monday, August 28, CNBC-TV18 added.

Earlier in August 2022, Zomato completed the acquisition of quick commerce company Blinkit (formerly known as Grofers) and its warehousing and ancillary services business. The company then informed us about the same through an exchange filing. Zomato had announced the deal in June 2022 after its board approved the Rs 4,447 crore transaction to acquire Blinkit.

The implied value for Zomato shares which Softbank received stood at Rs 70.76 per share. The stock is currently about 30 per cent above the issue price, giving Softbank a strong profit from the sale. Sources also added that investment banks are building a book to capture the demand for Zomato's shares.

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