Japan's SoftBank Group Corp's Vision Fund on Friday (December 15) sold 11.4 million shares of financial services platform PB Fintech at ₹800.05 per share, totalling a transaction value of ₹914 crore.
Concurrently, the Government Pension Fund Global made a strategic entry into the PB Fintech by acquiring 1.6 million shares. Also, HDFC Mutual Fund made a notable investment by purchasing 1.15 million shares of PB Fintech at the same price of ₹800.05 apiece.
Mirae Asset MF, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, Societe Generale, Capital Group, The Master Trust Bank of Japan, Goldman Sachs, and China's Best Investment Corporation, among others, were the buyers of the shares.
Svf Python II (Cayman) Ltd offloaded a total of 1,14,21,212 shares in 10 tranches, amounting to 2.54%, in PB Fintech, as per the block deal data available with the BSE. After the latest transaction, Softbank's shareholding has declined to 1.85% from a 4.39% stake in PB Fintech.
In October, Softbank pared a 2.5% stake in PB Fintech for ₹871 crore. In December last year, Softbank through its affiliates offloaded a 5.1% stake in Policybazaar for ₹1,043 crore.
PB Fintech reported a consolidated net loss of ₹21 crore for the September quarter of the current fiscal, which was 89% lower than ₹187 crore reported in the year-ago quarter.
PB Fintech was co-founded by Yashish Dahiya and Alok Bansal in 2008. The company operates an online insurance platform Policybazaar and credit comparison portal Paisabazaar. It made its public market debut in November 2021.
SoftBank, which was one of the early investors in India's tech companies, has been gradually paring stakes in the firms, including Paytm, Delhivery and Zomato.
Shares of PB Fintech Ltd ended at ₹789.45, down by ₹18.65, or 2.31% on the BSE
(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)
First Published: Dec 15, 2023 8:40 PM IST
