SoftBank Sells Meesho Stake to Institutional Buyers
SoftBank's SVF II Meerkat DE sold an 8 crore share stake in ecommerce platform Meesho for ₹1,650.40 crore, a 1.7% holding.
SoftBank has sold an 8 crore equity share stake in ecommerce platform Meesho for ₹1,650.40 crore. The sale, executed by SoftBank's investment entity SVF II Meerkat DE, represented a 1.7% stake in the company at a weighted average price of ₹206.30 per share, a 1.6% discount to the day's closing price, according to NSE data.
A consortium of global institutional investors absorbed the shares. Franklin Templeton was the largest buyer, acquiring 96.7 lakh shares through two entities. Societe Generale ODI bought 80 lakh shares, while Fidelity picked up 66.7 lakh shares via nine different entities. Other major purchasers included Manulife, HDFC Standard Life Insurance, Goldman Sachs, Motilal Oswal, Morgan Stanley, and the sovereign wealth funds of Kuwait, Oman, and Norway.
Recent Investor Exits from Meesho
The transaction is part of a broader trend of investor partial exits from Meesho in recent weeks. Last week, Y Combinator sold 4.9 crore shares for approximately ₹969.6 crore. A few weeks prior, Elevation Capital and Peak XV Partners each sold stakes worth ₹974.6 crore. Additionally, Fidelity sold 5.98 crore shares worth ₹988.44 crore earlier in June.
SoftBank's Broader Sell-Down in India
The Meesho sale aligns with SoftBank's recent activity reducing its exposure to Indian new-age tech stocks. Last week, the investor sold 4.50 crore shares of omnichannel eyewear retailer Lenskart for ₹2,887.9 crore. This followed a similar sale of Lenskart shares worth ₹2,873.3 crore in June. SoftBank has also been paring its stake in logistics firm Delhivery, reducing its holding from 9.67% in September 2024 to 7.61% by June 2026.
Prior to this sale, SoftBank held 39.6 crore shares in Meesho, amounting to 8.6% of the company's total equity as of the end of the June quarter.
Meesho's Recent Financial Performance
Despite the share sales, Meesho has reported strengthening financials. In the first quarter of FY27, the company cut its net loss by 54.1% year-on-year to ₹132.8 crore. Its operating revenue for the quarter surged 48% to ₹3,707 crore.
The platform's key operating metrics also showed strong growth. The net merchandise value of goods sold rose 34% year-on-year to ₹11,614 crore for the quarter. The number of annual transacting users grew 29% to 27.4 crore.
Stock Performance Context
Meesho's stock has performed strongly in recent months. The share price rose nearly 9.5% over the past month and is up nearly 40% over the past six months. On the day of the SoftBank stake sale, shares of Meesho ended 0.88% lower at ₹209.74 on the NSE.
