SUMMARY
- Tencent sold 97 lakh shares of PB Fintech for INR 1,668.1 crore through multiple block deals.
- The sale follows a similar divestment trend and comes amid a strong market performance for PB Fintech, whose shares have risen 115% YTD.
- PB Fintech reported a net profit of INR 59.98 crore for Q1 FY2024-25, marking its third consecutive profitable quarter.
Tencent, the Chinese technology conglomerate, has divested a significant portion of its stake in PB Fintech, the parent company of Policybazaar, through multiple open market transactions. The sale, amounting to 97 lakh shares, fetched INR 1,668.1 crore, according to sources cited by Inc42. The shares were offloaded at INR 1,719.75 per share through multiple block deals, with key buyers including Growth Fund, Verition Multistrategy Master Fund, Societe Generale, SBI Mutual Fund, Axis Mutual Fund, Goldman Sachs (Singapore) Pte, and Mirae Asset Mutual Fund.
This strategic move comes amid a bullish phase for PB Fintech, whose stock recently reached a 52-week high of INR 1,849 during intraday trading on August 26. The sale marks Tencent’s exit as a notable investor in PB Fintech, following a similar divestment by the company’s chairman and CEO, Yashish Dahiya, and vice chairman earlier in May, when they sold 83.7 lakh shares for INR 1,109 crore.
Prior to this sale, Tencent held a 4.26% stake in PB Fintech, equivalent to 1.94 crore shares, through its subsidiary Tencent Cloud Europe BV as of June 2024. The shares have shown a remarkable rise of 115% on a year-to-date basis and surged by over 129% in the past 12 months. This increase is supported by PB Fintech’s robust financial performance, having reported its third consecutive profitable quarter for Q1 FY2024-25, with a net profit of INR 59.98 crore, a significant turnaround from a loss of INR 11.9 crore in the same period last year. The company’s operating revenue also saw a year-on-year increase of 51.8%, reaching INR 1,010.5 crore during the June quarter.
Tencent Holdings Limited, based in Shenzhen, China, is a global leader in the tech and gaming sectors. PB Fintech, widely recognized as Policybazaar, operates as India’s largest online insurance marketplace, providing insurance and financial products through its flagship brands, Policybazaar and Paisabazaar.
