Alipay Exits Zomato With INR 3,336.7 Cr Stake Sale; Morgan Stanley, Birla Mutual Fund Among Buyers

Chinese payments group Alipay exited food tech major Zomato by selling its entire 3.44% stake in the company via multiple block deals worth a cumulative INR 3,336.7 Cr on Wednesday (November 29).

Alipay held 29.6 Cr shares in Zomato as of September 30, 2023 and sold this entire stake today, as per the BSE data.

As per reports yesterday, Alipay was expected to offload its stake at INR 111.28 per share. However, the deal was executed at INR 112.7 per share on the BSE today. 

The Chinese company exited Zomato by booking over $40 Mn in profit compared to its initial investment of $360 Mn in the Indian foodtech major in 2018

Despite Alipay’s stake sale, shares of Zomato remained resilient as the shares were lapped up by multiple buyers. 

Morgan Stanley Asia (Singapore) alone bought 4.4 Cr shares of Zomato in a bulk deal today, followed by the Government Of Singapore buying 3.3 Cr offloaded shares in the company. Birla Mutual Fund grabbed 1.7 Cr shares of Zomato, while BofA Securities Europe SA bought 1.3 Cr shares in the company.

Several entities of Fidelity Investment, Morgan Stanley, and Vanguard were also among the buyers of Alipay’s offloaded stake in Zomato.

Overall, 30.4 Cr shares of Zomato changed hands today on the BSE.

The company’s shares ended today’s session 2.5% higher at INR 116.7, once again going above its listing price of INR 115.

Alipay had sold almost half of its stake in Zomato worth INR 1,631 Cr in a bulk deal in November last year. 

In August this year, the company also sold a 10.3% stake in Paytm, which was acquired by the fintech giant’s founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma. 

Shares of Zomato are trading about 97% higher year to date on the back of the company reporting two consecutive profitable quarters in FY24.

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