PB Fintech block deal: 2.1% equity changes hands; Tencent likely seller

Reacting to the large deal, shares of the company were trading over 1% higher at ₹1,759.95 apiece on the BSE.

Last evening, there were reports that Tencent Cloud Europe was likely to sell a 2.1% stake (9.7 million shares) in the company via block deals today. The floor price for the deal was reported to be ₹1,660.2 per share, a 4.5% discount to CMP. 

PB Fintech, as per reports, posted a consolidated net profit of ₹60 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2024, against a loss of ₹12 crore reported in the year ago period.

The revenue grew 52% YoY to ₹1,010 crore.

The total insurance premium for the April-June quarter was reported at ₹4,871 crore, growth of 62% on a YoY basis.

The company reported a 66% YoY jump in its new core online insurance premium, while the new (health & life insurance) premium surged by 78%.

Earlier in June too, Chinese conglomerate Tencent sold shares of PB Fintech for ₹415 crore through an open market transaction.

Shenzhen-based Tencent, through its affiliate Tencent Cloud Europe BV, offloaded the shares of PB Fintech on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

Even in May, Tencent offloaded a 1.2% stake in PB Fintech for ₹664 crore, as per a PTI report.

PB Fintech operates online insurance platform Policybazaar and credit comparison portal Paisabazaar. 

Both platforms address large and highly underpenetrated online insurance and lending markets.

The company's IPO, which was launched in 2021, was subscribed 16.59 times on the last day of subscription. The issue received bids for 57,23,84,100 shares against 3,45,12,186 shares on offer, according to NSE data. The price range for the offer was ₹940-980 per share. The₹5,710-crore IPO had a fresh issue of₹3,750 crore worth of equity shares and an offer for sale of about₹1,960 crore by existing shareholders.