BENGALURU, Aug 7 (Reuters) – A subsidiary of China’s Ant Financial will promote a ten.3% stake in India’s Paytm (PAYT.NS), with the corporate’s founder and CEO intending to spice up his holding to simplify the possession construction of one in every of India’s largest cost companies.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma will purchase a ten.3% stake from Antfin (Netherlands) Holding B.V. valued at $628 million, the fintech firm stated in a submitting on Monday.

Shares of Paytm rose as a lot as 11.4% on Monday after the announcement and have gained greater than 50% to date this 12 months.

Sharma’s stake buy from Antfin (Netherlands) Holding B.V. is priced at Paytm’s final closing worth of 796.6 rupees a share.

Following the stake sale, Antfin will stop to be the biggest shareholder within the firm, with its holding diminished to 13.5%.

In February, China’s Alibaba (9988.HK) bought its entire stake in Paytm to exit the corporate.

Japanese funding agency Softbank Group Corp (9984.T) has additionally been lowering its stake in Paytm via open market offers, with its shareholding diminished to 9.18% after its newest deal.

Paytm founder Sharma will now be the biggest shareholder within the digital funds agency with a holding of 19.42%.

“No cash payment will be made for this acquisition, and neither will any pledge, guarantee, or other value assurance be provided by Mr Sharma, directly or otherwise,” Paytm stated in a press release.

The firm added that there can be no change within the administration or management of Paytm, with Sharma and the prevailing board persevering with of their roles.

Resilient Asset Management, Sharma’s abroad entity, will difficulty optionally convertible debentures to Antfin in consideration for the acquisiton.

Reporting by Varun Vyas in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil, Eileen Soreng and Lincoln Feast

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