New Delhi: Japanese investor SoftBank Group has sold a 1.65 per cent stake in Meesho for Rs 1,885 crore, further reducing its holdings in India’s e-commerce sector.
The seller was SVF II Meerkat (DE) LLC, an affiliate of SoftBank. Block deal data on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) shows the affiliate offloaded 7.64 crore shares in Bengaluru-based Meesho.
The sale took place on Friday at an average price of Rs 246.75 per share, bringing the total deal value to Rs 1,885.17 crore. After the transaction, the affiliate’s holding in the company has fallen to 5.19 per cent from 6.84 per cent.
Who bought in
Despite the size of the sale, the shares found plenty of takers. A group of domestic and foreign institutional investors joined the deal.
Societe Generale (SocGen), the Paris-based financial services firm, was the largest buyer. It picked up more than 1.47 crore shares, equal to a 0.32 per cent stake, for Rs 364.65 crore.
On the domestic side, mutual funds run by Motilal Oswal, HDFC, Edelweiss and Aditya Birla Sun Life took part, along with Bajaj Life Insurance.
Overseas buyers included Morgan Stanley, Fidelity Investments, BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs, Ghisallo Capital Management, William Blair Investment Management and the Texas Municipal Retirement System. Sovereign and state investors also joined, including the Singaporean government, the Monetary Authority of Singapore and Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global.
Market reaction
Meesho’s shares rose 1.53 per cent on Friday to close at Rs 257.99 apiece on the NSE.
A string of exits
The Meesho sale is the latest in a series of stake sales by SoftBank in its Indian portfolio companies, mainly in e-commerce and consumer technology.
Earlier this month, the investor pared a 1.56 per cent stake in eyewear retailer Lenskart Solutions for Rs 1,896 crore. In September, it sold a 1.7 per cent stake in Meesho for Rs 1,650 crore.
Lenskart has seen repeated sales this year. In August, SoftBank divested nearly 2.6 per cent of the company for Rs 2,888 crore. In June, it sold a further 3.25 per cent stake for Rs 2,873 crore.
Earlier in the year, in January, the technology investor reduced its shareholding in electric two-wheeler maker Ola Electric Mobility by 2.15 per cent. Taken together, these deals show SoftBank steadily scaling back its Indian bets as part of a wider effort to monetise its investments in the country.