SoftBank offloads another 2% in India's Paytm

SOFTBANK Group has sold an additional 2 per cent in India’s Paytm, the latest in a string of selldowns in the digital payments firm.

The Japanese conglomerate, which sold shares between Dec 19 and Jan 20, now holds a 5.06 per cent stake in the company, according to an exchange filing on Wednesday (Jan 24).

Paytm has recently seen a spate of selldowns, including the exit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and China’s Alibaba Group. The Netherlands-based unit of Chinese fintech firm Ant Financial has also trimmed its stake in the company.

The deal value and identity of the buyers of the shares were not immediately clear.

SoftBank has loosened its hold on the company over the past few years, trimming its stake through various open market deals.

Shares of Paytm, which are up nearly 19 per cent so far this year, were trading 0.81 per cent lower on Wednesday. REUTERS