In the latest transaction, SVF II Meerkat (DE) LLC, an affiliate of SoftBank, offloaded 7.64 crore shares in Bengaluru-based Meesho, according to the block deal data on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).
The share sale was executed on Friday at an average price of Rs 246.75 apiece, taking the total deal value to Rs 1,885.17 crore.
With this, the affiliate’s holding in Meesho has fallen to 5.19% from 6.84%.
The stake sale, however, found buyers, with a clutch of domestic and foreign institutional investors participating in the transaction, with Societe Generale (SocGen) emerging as the largest buyer.
Paris-based financial services firm SocGen picked up more than 1.47 crore shares, or a 0.32% stake, for Rs 364.65 crore.
Domestic institutional buyers included mutual funds managed by Motilal Oswal, HDFC, Edelweiss and Aditya Birla Sun Life, along with Bajaj Life Insurance.
Overseas participants included Morgan Stanley, Fidelity Investments, BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs, Ghisallo Capital Management, William Blair Investment Management and Texas Municipal Retirement System.
The Singaporean government, Monetary Authority of Singapore and Norway’s sovereign wealth fund Government Pension Fund Global, also participated in the transaction.
Meesho shares rose 1.53% to close at Rs 257.99 apiece on the NSE on Friday.
The latest transaction adds to a series of stake sales by SoftBank in its Indian portfolio companies, particularly in the e-commerce and consumer technology space.
Earlier this month, the Japanese investor pared a 1.56% stake in eyewear retailer Lenskart Solutions for Rs 1,896 crore. Before that, in September, it sold a 1.7% stake in Meesho for Rs 1,650 crore.
SoftBank had also divested nearly a 2.6% stake in Lenskart for Rs 2,888 crore in August and a further 3.25% stake for Rs 2,873 crore in June.
In January, the technology investor reduced its shareholding in electric two-wheeler maker Ola Electric Mobility by 2.15%, continuing its broader portfolio monetisation exercise in the country.
