SoftBank Group revealed on Thursday that it now owns an additional 2.17 percent of Paytm, just a month after selling a 2% share in the struggling payments company. Its stake in Paytm has dropped to 2.83 percent from 5.01 percent previously.
In September 2022, the Japanese conglomerate held 17.5% of Paytm. Since then, it has reduced its shareholding through a number of open market transactions, with the most recent drop being in January.
In December and January, the Japanese corporation sold a 2% share in the company, reducing it to only 5%.
While some foreign investors, including Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway and China's Alibaba Group, quit the company in 2023, others, including a Netherlands-based unit of Chinese fintech giant Ant Financial, reduced their holdings.
Earlier this month, a creadible source claimed that SoftBank Group had a 10% loss, or $100 million, on its $1.4 billion investment. In May 2017, the Japanese corporation bought in One97 Communications for Rs 820 per share (after all share modifications).
Paytm's shares have plunged more than 45% since January 31, when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) ordered the company to suspend its banking unit due to "persistent non-compliance" with regulations.
Later, the business announced that Vijay Shekhar Sharma would resign as part-time non-executive chairman and board member of Paytm Payments Bank Ltd. PPBL also restructured its board of directors, including former Central Bank of India chairman Srinivasan Sridhar, retired IAS officer Debendranath Sarangi, former executive director of Bank of Baroda Ashok Kumar Garg, and retired IAS Rajni Sekhri Sibal.
