Mutual funds have added more Paytm shares since December 2022 on the back of strong Q3 results
One97 Communications, which owns payments and financial services platform Paytm, completed an ₹850 crore share buyback earlier this month.
On February 13, the fintech company had informed the stock exchanges that it had bought back 15.57 million equity shares at a weighted average price of ₹545.93 per share, which is 2.4 per cent of the total number of shares outstanding. As a result, the percentage holding of the issuing shareholders in the firm will increase on a proportionate basis, although the absolute number of shares held by them remains the same.
Domestic institutional shareholding is expected to increase by 1.11 per cent due to increase in shareholding of mutual funds and AIFs. Mutual funds have increased their positions since December 2022 based on strong third quarter results - from 1.73 per cent to 2.68 per cent.
On the other hand, the foreign institutional holding has come down from 72.8 per cent to 71.9 per cent. FDI shareholding saw a decrease, with FPI Cat 1 shareholding increasing from 6.7 per cent to 10.6 per cent (3.9 per cent increase).
As per the latest updates, Alibaba has completely exited the fintech giant. The Chinese e-commerce company had a 6.26% stake in Paytm, which it sold in two tranches in January and February this year.
As a result of the buyback, Jack Ma-backed Ant GroupEnt's holding in Paytm has increased marginally to 25.47 per cent from 24.86 per cent as of December 31, though Ant holds 161.4 million shares in Paytm, the same number of shares it owns. Held before buyback.
As per SEBI regulations, a period of 90 days from the date of closure of the buyback is provided to restore the stake below 25 per cent.
Meanwhile, Paytm continues to be on a strong growth trajectory. In its recently announced Q3FY23 results, Paytm achieved the milestone of operating profitability much ahead of its September 2023 guidance.
The company's EBITDA before ESOP cost stood at ₹31 crore with EBITDA before ESOP margin at 2 per cent of revenue as compared to a year ago (27 per cent). The fintech giant's revenue from operations grew 42 per cent to ₹2,062 crore, driven by growth in its core payments business and continued growth momentum in its credit business and commerce business. (ANI)
