Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has reportedly sold half of its position in India-based payments company Paytm.
The company has sold its 3.1% stake for $125m, according to a report from PYMNTS. Shares in Paytm dropped by 8.8%, it said.
Alibaba sold its shares at INR 536 apiece ($6.57), and cut short its 6.26% stake in the FinTech company.
Following the sales, Morgan Stanley Asia looks to have upped its shares in the company. According to a report from VCCircle, the private equity major has acquired 5.4 million shares at a price of INR 534 ($6.55). With this, Morgan Stanley invested around INR 2bn ($35.9m).
Paytm helps users make digital payments through their smartphones and operates as a payment gateway, e-commerce marketplace and ticket booth. Its platform can also be used to buy insurance and digital gold. The India-based payments company held a $2.2bn IPO in 2021. One the day, it raised $2.5bn, but shares dropped by 25% on the first day.
Last year, the Reserve Bank of India stopped Paytm Payments Bank to stop onboarding new customers due to ‘certain material supervisory concerns.’ In March, there were also allegations Paytm had shared data with organisations based in China and failed to provide adequate KYC documentation.
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