China’s Ant Group sells $246 million worth of Paytm shares in block trade

China’s Ant Group has offloaded 25.5 million shares of fintech firm Paytm in a block trade, raising approximately $246 million. The shares were sold at ₹823.10 ($9.69) apiece, according to a term sheet reviewed by Reuters.

This is slightly higher than the ₹809.75 price anticipated in an earlier report, which had pegged the stake sale at around 4 per cent for $242 million.

Ant Group, a subsidiary of Alibaba Group, has been gradually reducing its stake in Paytm as part of a broader strategic shift and regulatory pressures in both China and India. In August 2023, Ant sold a 10.3 per cent stake to Paytm’s founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma. As of March 2025, Ant, through its Netherlands-based arm, Antfin, held approximately 9.85 per cent in Paytm’s parent company, One97 Communications.

Goldman Sachs and Citigroup managed the transaction, the Reuters report noted. This marks another major sell-off in Paytm over the past two years, which has also seen exits by Berkshire Hathaway and SoftBank Group.

Losses widen for Paytm in Q4 FY25

Last week, One97 Communications reported a reduced year-on-year consolidated loss for the fourth quarter of the financial year 2024-25 (Q4 FY25), posting a net loss of ₹540 crore, slightly improved from ₹550 crore a year earlier. Loss for the fintech had widened from ₹208 crore in the previous quarter due to a one-time employee stock option expense.

Meanwhile, consolidated revenue from operations fell 16 per cent year-on-year to ₹1,912 crore, though it rose 5 per cent sequentially from ₹1,828 crore in the December quarter.

Shares of Paytm fell nearly 2 per cent to ₹851 at 11:45 am on the BSE, following the news of the block trade.