Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway exits India’s Paytm in $165 million deal

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BENGALURU -Billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has exited India’s Paytm after selling its entire stake in the company for about 13.71 billion rupees ($164.70 million) through a bulk deal on Friday.

Berkshire Hathaway’s BH International Holdings has sold more than 15.6 million shares of the digital payments firm, with a weighted average price of 877.29 rupees per share, exchange data showed.

Who the buyers of the Paytm shares are is not known. Paytm did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for additional details, while Berkshire was not available for comment.

As of September 2023, BH International Holdings had a 2.46% stake in the company, as per exchange data.

Berkshire’s exit comes after a string of selldowns for the firm, including stake cuts by Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group and the exit of China’s Alibaba Group.

In September, Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma had said he was open to increasing his stake, weeks after he purchased shares in the company from Chinese firm Ant Financial, becoming Paytm’s single largest shareholder.

Shares of Paytm closed 3.34% lower on Friday.

($1 = 83.2440 Indian rupees)