(Reuters) -China’s Ant Group and Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp are likely to offload their stakes in Indian digital payments firm Paytm in the open market, after talks with Bharti Airtel founder failed, the Economic Times reported.
Shareholders and investment banks representing Ant and Softbank had earlier approached Bharti Airtel founder-chairman Sunil Mittal with an offer to sell their stakes in One 97 Communications, which owns Paytm, according to the report on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Ant is the largest shareholder in the firm, with about 25% stake and SoftBank owns around 13%, the report added.
Paytm has been under pressure to turn profitable ever since its dismal listing in late 2021, and its shares have tumbled below its initial public offering prices, as global backers sold shares in the company.
China’s Alibaba Group earlier this month exited Paytm by selling its remaining stake in Paytm for about 13.78 billion Indian rupees ($166.20 million). SoftBank had also previously sold a 4.5% stake in Paytm through block deals for about $200 million.
The talks with Mittal didn’t make much headway and Bharti is not currently engaged in conversations on this issue, the ET report added.
SoftBank, Ant Group, Paytm and Bharti Airtel did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comments.
($1 = 82.9130 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
