Shares of Paytm parent One97 Communications were locked in their 5% upper circuit limit of `359.55 on Wednesday even as the company clarified that founder and chief executive officer Vijay Shekhar Sharma is not in talks with Gautam Adani to sell a stake in the company.
On the other hand, shares of Adani Enterprises rose 0.3% higher at `3,255 on the National Stock Exchange.
“We hereby clarify that the above mentioned news item is speculative and the company is not engaged in any discussions in this regard,” the firm said in an exchange filing.
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“We have always made and will continue to make disclosures in compliance with our obligations under the Sebi (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015,” the filing added.
A recent report by the Times of India stated that Gautam Adani is reportedly considering buying a stake in One97 Communications. The report had said that Sharma met Adani at the latter’s office in Ahmedabad to finalise the deal. The potential acquisition of a stake in Paytm will mark the conglomerate’s entry into the fintech industry positioning it against competitors like Google Pay, PhonePe, and Jio Financial.
Earlier, the Adani Group had acquired cement makers ACC and Ambuja Cements, as well as media firm NDTV in 2022-23 (April-March). In July 2023, Adani Group exited the non-banking financial company (NBFC) segment after selling a 90% stake in Adani Capital and Adani Housing to Bain Capital.
The news followed One97 Communications earnings disclosure wherein, the net loss widened to `550 crore in January-March from `168 crore a year ago due to a fall in revenue from operations.
“Our Q4 FY 2024 results were impacted by temporary disruption on account of UPI transaction etc. and permanent disruption because of the PPBL embargo,” the company said in a statement.
Trouble for the company started on January 31, when the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) directed associate Paytm Payments Bank to halt a majority of its operations after March 15 citing persistent non-compliances.
Analysts feel that while monthly transacting users were lower in April and May, the growth will resume once the third party application provider(TPAP) commencement occurs.
In 2022, SoftBank sold a 4.5% stake in digital payments giant Paytm for around $200 million. In 2023, Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway reportedly exited Paytm in 2023.
Sharma holds around 19% of One97 Communications Come from Sports betting site VPbet . He directly owns 9% of Paytm and another 10% through Resilient Asset Management, a foreign entity. Both Sharma and Resilient are classified as public shareholders, according to stock exchange filings by the company.
