Temasek joins ADIA, SoftBank in trimming Lenskart stake with ₹1,940 crore block deal
Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek sold a 2% stake in Peyush Bansal-led Lenskart Solutions Ltd through an open market transaction on July 10, according to a stock exchange filing dated July 14.
Transaction at estimated value ₹1,940 crore (about $200 million) from its subsidiary MacRitchie Investments Pte. was carried out through. Following the sale, Temasek’s share in the eyewear retailer fell from 6.8% to 4.75%.
On July 10, Lenskart’s shares closed at: ₹543.65 on the National Stock Exchange.
Temasek first invested in Lenskart in July 2021, leading a $220 million funding round alongside Falcon Edge Capital (now Alpha Wave Global). The financing round valued the eyewear retailer at $2.5 billion.
Investor exits
The share sale in July follows a series of secondary market sales on Lenskart in the last two months.
Mint It was reported on June 10 that Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund had initiated a secondary sale of shares in Lenskart to raise Rs 100,000. ₹1,944 crore. Earlier, on June 3, a SoftBank entity sold a 3.25% stake through a block deal. ₹2,873 crore.
Prior to this, multiple block deals on May 8 saw investors such as TR Capital, KKR-backed Birdseye View Holdings, Alpha Wave Ventures and ABG Capital divest a total of 6.46% stake. ₹5,314 crore ₹473.4 per share.
The May 8 transactions occurred shortly after the six-month shareholder lock-up ended after the company went public.
According to Nuvama Alternative and Quantitative Research, the end of the lock-up made approximately 1,047.4 million shares available for trading. Together, these shares constituted approximately 60% of the company’s outstanding equity capital and comprised approximately ₹51,573 crore based on May 7 closing price.
This also marks Temasek’s second $200 million Indian equity transaction on the stock exchange this month. The investor raised approximately the same amount by selling a 2.4% stake in PB Fintech on July 3.
financial performance
Lenskart’s net profit fell 9% year-on-year in the March quarter. ₹200 crore despite a 46% increase in revenue from operations. ₹2,516 crore. The company has not yet announced its June quarter earnings.
As India’s primary markets gear up for a new wave of major IPOs, secondary markets are increasingly providing institutional investors with liquidity opportunities.
GQG Partners sold a stake alongside Lenskart transactions ₹1,906 crore in GMR Airports through open market agreements in June. The month also witnessed share sales in companies such as SoftBank-backed Meesho Ltd, jewelery retailer Bluestone Jewelery and Lifestyle Ltd, Groww parent Billionbrains Garage Ventures Ltd, Capital Small Finance Bank and logistics platform Delhivery Ltd.
