Adani in talks to buy Paytm parent One 97 stake? Payments firm denies report
Paytm says in statement that news is speculative and company is “not engaged in any discussions” to sell a stake
Gautam Adani is reportedly looking to enter the fintech sector with a stake in One 97 Communications, which operates Paytm.
According to a report in The Times of India, Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma met the Adani Group chairman at the latter’s Ahmedabad office on Tuesday (May 28) to finalise the “contours of a deal”.
However, the digital payments firm said on Wednesday that it is not in talks to sell a stake, news agency Reuters reported. “We hereby clarify that the abovementioned news item is speculative and the company is not engaged in any discussions in this regard,” Paytm said in a statement, without naming Adani.
Adani in fintech?
If the report is correct, however, and the two go through with the deal, this will be another of Adani Group’s major purchases after Ambuja Cements and NDTV, and it will be in direct competition against Google Pay, Ambani-owned Jio Financial, and Walmart’s PhonePe.
The current value of One 97, founded by Sharma in 2007, is Rs 4,218 crore, with its stock closing at Rs 342 on Tuesday. Sharma owns about 19 per cent stocks in the company and 9 per cent in Paytm directly. He also holds 10 per cent through Resilient Asset Management, a foreign entity.
Other key shareholders of One 97 are private equity fund Saif Partners (15 per cent), the Jack Ma-founded Antfin Netherlands (10 per cent) and the company’s directors (9 per cent).