Marshall Wace, a UK-based hedge fund, has offloaded 5.85 lakh shares of fintech giant Paytm in a block deal for Rs 25.08 crore, as per a report by Inc42.
As per the NSE data, the hedge fund offloaded the shares of the fintech platform at a price of Rs 428.05 each. 5.85 lakh shares of the fintech firm were sold by Marshall Wace.
BNP Paribas Financial Markets, an affiliate of the financial services firm BNP Paribas, acquired the shares. Along with Paytm, shares of Shriram Finance were also offloaded by the company. The combined value of the same through an open market transaction was Rs 419 crore.
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Further, more than 14.67 lakh shares of Shriram Finance were disposed of by the fund. The average price per share for the same was Rs 2,684.30 per piece. The development for fintech firm Paytm has been coming at a time when the fintech firm has been trying to uplift business.
The fintech firm faced huge pressure after the Reserve Bank of India imposed restrictions on Paytm for persistent noncompliance with several parameters, including KYC regulations. Recently, Moneycontrol reported that Paytm’s founder and CEO, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, is trying to reach out to old allies with the aim of reviving the business.
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Speaking to Moneycontrol, two senior leaders said, “Talks with Vasireddy and Malhotra, who could be leading the user growth initiative at Paytm, were initiated sometime back. Vijay has been in touch with his close aides and wants to rebuild the whole team as he takes direct charge of each business.”
Meanwhile, recently, Paytm laid off an undisclosed number of employees. Following this, as per several reports, employees have alleged that they were forced to resign without any notice period or severance pay. The employees alleged that the HR team at Paytm asked the employees to resign voluntarily or face regulatory actions. However, the allegations have been denied by the company.