SoftBank Vision Fund plans to fully exit Zomato through the open market: Report

SoftBank Vision Fund may offload its remaining 2.18% stake in Zomato in the coming months and completely exit the company via open market transactions, according to a report from Moneycontrol.

Yesterday, SoftBank Vision Fund divested a 1.17% ownership stake in the food delivery unicorn, earning a profit of more than Rs 100 crore. The transaction involved the sale of 10 crore shares at a unit price of Rs 94.7 through bulk deals.

The Japanese investor entered Zomato at an implied value of Rs 70.76 per share. However, when combined with its original investment in Blinkit, which was written down significantly, the average cost price for SoftBank was approximately Rs 85 apiece, said the report by Moneycontrol, quoting sources.

YourStory has independently verified that SoftBank is looking to offload its remaining stake in the entity through the public market opportunistically, based on share price movements of Zomato.

SoftBank declined to comment on specific queries sent by YourStory.

For SoftBank, Zomato represents a purely financial transaction, unlike Delhivery, Paytm, and PB Fintech, which entered as strategic investors, added the source.

SoftBank is approaching this deal solely from a financial standpoint and was waiting for Zomato to become a profitable venture. Now that Zomato has turned profitable, it intends to exit the company fully when suitable opportunities arise, said the source.

The Masayoshi Son-led investment firm, which had earlier invested in Blinkit, received a 3.35% stake in Zomato as part of the foodtech's merger with the grocery delivery platform.

On Monday, Tiger Global Management fully exited from the food delivery company after selling all of its remaining shares for Rs 1,123.85 crore.

(The story was updated with additional information.)