Food aggregator Zomato's shares were sold in a block auction on August 20 for Rs 5,438.50 crore, which was later increased, with Antfin Singapore Holding, an Alibaba Group affiliate, the likely seller.
The block sale involved the transfer of up to 21 crore shares, representing a 2.4 percent ownership in the online meal delivery company. The deal was finalized at a floor price of Rs 258 per share, representing a nearly 2% discount over the stock's previous closing price.
Following the block deal, Zomato shares experienced a knee-jerk response and plummeted more than 1%. At 09.21 a.m., the shares were trading at Rs 259.20 on the NSE. While Moneycontrol could not immediately identify the parties involved in the deal, CNBC-TV18 reported on August 19 that Antfin Singapore Holding was looking to sell a 2% share in Zomato for $556 million (Rs 4,650 crore).
Antfin previously announced plans to sell 1.54 percent of its stock for $408 million. According to Zomato's most recent ownership statistics, Antfin Singapore Holding owns a 4.3% interest in the meal delivery business. The share sale will also result in a 90-day lock-in period before Antfin may carry out another round of stock dilution.
The equity sale comes on the wake of Zomato's quarterly reports, which increased net profit by 126.5 times to Rs 253 crore in the April-June quarter compared to the same period last year. Profit growth was driven by higher platform fees paid to customers and greater operational profitability in its rapid commerce unit, Blinkit.
Furthermore, Zomato's quarterly success and strong development potential in sectors such as rapid commerce prompted positive price targets and boosted shares by roughly 20% in only the last month.
The stock has also been a multi-bagger, with investors receiving gains of 112 percent year to date and over 200 percent over the last year. Some brokerages, such as CLSA and UBS Securities, expect the stock to reach Rs 300 within the next year, further increasing gains.
