Chinese payment group Alipay, a subsidiary of Ant Group, is reportedly planning to divest its 3.4 per cent stake in the food delivery platform Zomato for approximately USD 400 million through block deals on Indian stock exchanges, the news agency Reuters reported.
Alipay is set to sell its entire 3.44 per cent stake in the deal, with Bank of America and Morgan Stanley serving as advisers. The transaction is expected to take place later this week on Indian exchanges, the report said.
According to the report, despite requests for comments, Zomato, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Alipay have not responded, as of outside regular business hours.
Zomato’s shares have experienced a remarkable surge of over 90 per cent this year, recovering from a more than 50 per cent decline in 2022 amid global tech stock challenges.
The block deals are slated to be executed at 111.28 rupees per share, representing a 2.2 per cent discount to Zomato’s closing price on Tuesday, it said.
This move follows Japan’s SoftBank selling a 1.1 per cent stake in Zomato in October. Zomato, India’s largest food delivery service has been expanding aggressively in response to the growing demand for online ordering.
Alipay’s divestment from Zomato aligns with a trend of other Chinese investors reducing their stakes in Indian companies. In August, China’s Antfin sold a 10.3 per cent stake in the prominent Indian financial giant Paytm.
Tech stocks, including Zomato, have rebounded following a challenging period last year during a market downturn. Investors had also raised concerns about the lofty valuations of several Indian startups that had recently entered the stock market.
