Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway exits Paytm, books loss of Rs 600 cr: Report

Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathway sold its entire stake in fintech major Paytm through the open market for about Rs 1,370 crore and booked loss of Rs 600 crore, said a report on Friday. Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold more than 1.56 crore shares of Paytm in a bulk deal on Friday, with a weighted average price of Rs 877.29 per share, data from the National Stock Exchange showed.

As of September 2023, Berkshire's BH International Holdings had a 2.46% stake in One 97 Communications Ltd, the parent firm of Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led Paytm, as per exchange data.

Berkshire Hathaway has exited Paytm after five years of its investment. It had invested Rs 2,200 crore in the firm in 2018 and had sold shares worth Rs 220 crore during the mega IPO of Paytm in 2021, reported CNBC TV18 on Friday.

Copthall Mauritius Investment picked up 75.75 lakh shares and Ghisallo Master Fund LP acquired 42.75 lakh shares, amounting to a 1.19 per cent and 0.67 per cent stake in Paytm, respectively. The shares were purchased at an average price of Rs 877.20 apiece, taking the aggregate deal value to Rs 1,039.52 crore.

Details of the other buyers could not be ascertained.

Shares of One97 Communications declined 3.08 per cent to close at Rs 895 apiece on the NSE on Friday. In October, One97 Communications reported the narrowing of consolidated loss to Rs 291.7 crore in the second quarter of the current fiscal. The company had posted a loss of Rs 571.5 crore in the year-ago period.

The consolidated revenue from operations of the company increased about 32 per cent to Rs 2,518.6 crore during the quarter from Rs 1,914 crore a year ago.

Berkshire's exit comes after a string of selldowns for the firm, including stake cuts by Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group and the exit of China's Alibaba Group.

In September, Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma had said he was open to increasing his stake, weeks after he purchased shares in the company from Chinese firm Ant Financial, becoming Paytm's single largest shareholder.

With inputs from agencies