SoftBank expected to completely divest from Zomato in upcoming months

Sources suggest that SoftBank retains approximately 2.18% of its stake in Zomato, which it is considering selling through block deals

New Delhi: Japanese investment giant SoftBank, which sold nearly 10 crore shares in Zomato, amounting to an 1.17 per cent of the company’s equity, is planning to fully exit the online food delivery platform in next few months.

According to sources, SoftBank has around 2.18 per cent remaining stake in Zomato which it is likely to sell via block deals.

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Money Control was first to report about the development.

SoftBank bought Zomato stake in June last year for around Rs 71. For the company, Zomato is just an investment on which the company has made significant profits.

SoftBank and Zomato were yet to comment.

On Wednesday, around 10 crore shares of online food delivery platform Zomato, amounting to 1.17 per cent of the company’s equity, changed hands at a total deal value of around Rs 947 crore.

Japanese company SoftBank’s SVF Growth Fund was the likely seller in this mega transaction.

SVF Growth (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. had 3.35 per cent stake in Zomato, totalling around 28 crore shares.

The fresh block sale came after another foreign institutional investor, Tiger Global Management, offloaded its entire shareholding of 1.44 per cent in Zomato earlier this week.

The deal earned Tiger Global a total of Rs 1,123.85 crore.

The VC firm sold around 12.34 crore shares or 1.44 per cent stake in Zomato at an average price of Rs 91.01 per share.

Brokerage firm HSBC maintained its buy rating on Zomato and raised its price target to Rs 120 from Rs 102 earlier.

The note said that hyperlocal can become a much bigger business for Zomato in the long-term.