BENGALURU (Reuters) -Alibaba Group’s Antfin Singapore sold shares worth 47.72 billion rupees ($570 million) in India’s Zomato on Tuesday, cutting its stake by nearly half in the food and grocery delivery platform to 2.2%, exchange data showed.
Antfin, which had a 4.3% stake in Zomato as of June 30, sold the shares in two separate block deals at 257.46 rupees and 257.17 rupees per share, both at a discount to the day’s closing price of 263.12 rupees.
The sale marks Antfin’s second such divestment in the company this year. It sold a 2.1% stake in March, following border conflicts between Beijing and New Delhi that led to India’s increasing scrutiny of Chinese businesses and investment.
In 2023, China-based Ant Group’s Alipay divested its entire 3.44% stake in Zomato.
App-based delivery companies such as Zomato and its IPO-bound rival Swiggy are drawing attention from investors, as India’s urban residents increasingly choose the convenience of ordering groceries and other household items online.
Zomato’s shares, which have risen more than two-fold so far this year, closed 0.4% higher on Tuesday.
($1 = 83.7320 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Ashna Teresa Britto in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Eileen Soreng)
