Chinese company Alibaba is learnt to have sold 3.16 per cent direct stake in digital financial services firm One97 Communications, which operates under Paytm brand, for about Rs 1,360 crore in a block deal, according to sources. With this deal, Alibaba has sold entire direct stake in the company. Alibaba had 6.26 per cent direct stake in Paytm as of December 2022. Of this, it had sold 3.1 per cent stake in January. The remaining 3.16 per cent was sold on Friday.
"Alibaba has sold its complete direct stake in Paytm in the block deal today," a source aware of the development said. Besides Alibaba, its group firm Ant Financial holds around 25 per cent stake in Paytm. Another source said that around 2.8 crore shares were sold in a block deal which includes direct stake of Alibaba while others may have sold for profit- booking.
The trade took place in the price range of Rs 645-655 per share. Email query sent to Paytm and Alibaba did not elicit any reply in the regard.
