Zomato Rises 5% As 3.2 Crore Shares Change Hands Via Block Deal; Key Points For Investors

Zomato Share Price Today: Zomato’s share price opened 5 per cent higher on August 28 amid reports of a block deal in the shares. Zomato shares jumped as much as 5.56 per cent to a high of Rs 96.00 apiece on the BSE.

While the buyers and sellers were not known immediately, CNBC-TV18 quoting sources said that Softbank was likely to sell its shares as the lock-in period for investors after the Blinkit deal ended on August 25.

As per CNBC-TV18 report, around 3.2 crore Zomato shares worth ₹288 crore changed hands in the block deal window at ₹90.10 per share. However, the buyers and sellers in the block deal were not known.

Earlier, it was reported that Japan’s Softbank was likely to sell food delivery aggregator Zomato shares through block deals as the lock-in period after the Blinkit deal ended on Friday, August 25.

SoftBank holds 3.35 per cent stake in Zomato, which it had received during the Blinkit deal for selling its holding to the company.

Domestic brokerage house JM Financial had in its report suggested that pre-IPO and ex-Blinkit shareholders of Zomato are currently sitting on substantial gains on their investments, a large chunk of which is, however, unrealised.

“Given the quantum of these gains and basis past actions of these VC/PE/Chinese shareholders in the listed internet names that recently went public, we believe it is fair to say that a sizeable proportion of Zomato’s stock could be available for trade in large blocks in a not-so-distant future,” the brokerage had earlier said.

JM Financial had “strongly” suggested that long-term investors use these liquidity events to build a sizable position in Zomato as it not only offers a strong play on India’s online food services market but is also, post the Blinkit acquisition, shaping up into a formidable diversified play on online retail.

Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley has assigned an ‘Overweight’ rating to Zomato with a target price of Rs 115, saying checks show that the company has rolled out platform fee of Rs 2 per order across cities. “If the company sticks through platform fee it could drive improvement in profitability,” it said.

The stock has rallied 74 per cent in the last six month, while it has risen 58 per cent in the last one year.