Antfin (Netherlands) Holding B.V. has cut its stake in One 97 Communications Ltd., the parent company of digital payments firm Paytm, by 4 percentage points through an open market transaction.
According to a regulatory filing, the fintech investor—a subsidiary of the Ant Group—sold 25.5 million shares or 4% of the total equity share capital of the company on May 14. Following the sale, Antfin’s stake dropped from 9.84% to 5.84%.
Before the sale, Antfin was the second-largest shareholder in the company and now continues to hold 37.3 million shares.
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Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Paytm Founder and CEO, directly owns about 9.1% of the company. Additionally, through his Netherlands-based entity, Resilient Asset Management B.V., he holds an indirect stake of about 10.3%, bringing his total ownership to approximately 19.4%.
In August 2023, Ant Group sold a 10.3% stake in Paytm to Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s Resilient Asset Management B.V., reducing its shareholding and transferring voting rights to Sharma.
Ant Financial (now Ant Group)—the fintech arm of Alibaba Group—first invested in Paytm in February 2015, acquiring a 25% stake as part of a strategic agreement.
In February 2015, it made its initial investment of $200 million in Paytm, marking the first tranche of a planned $575 million investment.
By September 2015, Alibaba and Ant Financial together had invested $500 million in a new tranche, increasing their combined total investment to over $700 million and making Alibaba the largest stakeholder in One97 Communications (Paytm’s parent company) with about 40% ownership at the time.
Ant Financial was carved out from Alibaba to operate services like Alipay and manage Alibaba’s digital finance strategy, but both entities are closely linked through ownership and business strategy.
Edited by Suman Singh
