Paytm is set to sell its stake in Japan’s PayPay to SoftBank for approximately $250 million, its parent company One 97 Communications said in a statement. Paytm Singapore, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paytm, said its board had approved the sale of Stock Acquisition Rights (SARS) in PayPay Corporation at a board meeting held today.
While Paytm did not disclose value of the deal, Paytm CFO Madhur Deora had revealed that the carrying value of Paytm’s stock acquisition right in PayPay is roughly valued at Rs 2,000 crore during the company’s Q1 FY24 earnings call.
The company had earlier invested in PayPay in 2018. The Japanese payments company started as a joint venture between Japanese technology conglomerate SoftBank Corp and Yahoo Japan Corporation, with Paytm as a technology partner. At that time, SoftBank was one of the largest shareholders in Paytm.
The sale is expected to increase Paytm’s consolidated cash balance, as it streamlines operations to focus on its core business in India.
Paytm’s held a cash balance of Rs 9,999 crore as of of quarter ending September 2024.
The PayPay stake sale would be the second major monetisation by Paytm operator One 97 Communications this year, which sold its entertainment ticketing business to Zomato in August for Rs 2,048 crore in cash.
The business includes TicketNew (Orbgen Technologies) and Insider Platform (Wasteland Entertainment), transferring 280 employees. The transition period allows continued ticket access via Paytm. The business, with its Rs 2,000+ crore FY24 gross order value, saw 78 million ticket sales by 10+ million unique customers.
Paytm reported a profit of Rs 930 crore in Q2 FY24 compared to the loss of Rs 840.1 crore in the previous quarter, owing to the gains it received from the sale of its ticketing business.
One 97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm, saw its revenue from operations rise 10.51% in Q2 FY24 to Rs 1,659.5 crore from Rs 1,501.6 crore in Q1 FY24. In Q2 FY23, the company reported Rs 2,518.6 crore in revenue from operations and a loss of Rs 291.7 crore.
