Shares of PB Fintech Ltd, the parent company of Policybazaar and Paisabazaar, fell about 6% in Friday’s session after over 1.16 crore shares, or about 2.5% of the firm’s equity, changed hands in two big block purchases, exchange data indicated. The shares was offered at a floor price of Rs 1,604 a piece, a reduction of 4.6% over Rs 1,682.10, the closing on the NSE on Thursday.
The deal was solely placed by Citigroup Global Markets India Pvt. Ltd. The purchase followed rumors that Macritchie Investments Pte. Ltd. was looking to reduce its stake. Macritchie, which is classified as a foreign direct investment in the March quarter ownership statistics of PB Fintech, had 6.47% stake in the firm at the end of the quarter.
The block sale is the latest in a series of off-market stake withdrawals. Yashish Dahiya and Alok Bansal, co-founders of PB Fintech, have been selling shares in the company over the last year. Tencent Cloud Europe BV had also cut its stake through block deals earlier this year. The company’s solid operating success hasn’t stopped these instances of focused selling from adding volatility to the stock.
PB Fintech reported a strong March quarter with consolidated net profit jumping 54% year-on-year to Rs 261 crore, led by strong growth in new health and life insurance contracts. The operational momentum highlights the firm’s position in the market but frequent block trades by big investors might continue to impact on the mood in the short term, analysts believe.
Investors will be watching to see if block-sale activity persists and how management deals with capital-allocation and shareholder-stability issues. Market players are also looking for trade volumes and price activity in the next sessions to determine if buyers are absorbing the supply or the stock is facing additional fall.
