Lenskart shares fell as much as 5% during intraday trading on Monday, October 12. The stock hit a low of Rs. 643.80 on the BSE after reports said early investor Alpha Wave Ventures plans to sell part of its stake. The sale could be worth up to Rs. 1,691 crore. By 1:43 pm, the stock was down 4.07% at Rs. 650.15.
Alpha Wave is looking to sell up to 1.6% of Lenskart. The floor price is Rs. 640 a share, which is a 5.6% discount to the Rs. 677.65 close on October 9. The first part covers 15.1 million shares, or 0.9%. The investor also has an option to sell another 11.3 million shares, or 0.7%.
If it sells all 26.4 million shares, its holding will drop to 1.82% from 3.42%. The sale adds to selling pressure on the stock. Lenskart’s market value stood at Rs. 1,13,098.38 crore at the time of the fall.
This is not the first exit. In August, Alpha Wave sold 2.94 crore shares at Rs. 630 each through several large deals and raised Rs. 1,856.8 crore. Buyers included the NPS Trust, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, HDFC Life Insurance, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
Other backers have also cut their holdings. SoftBank sold shares worth Rs. 2,887.9 crore, and Temasek sold a 2.05% stake for Rs. 1,934 crore last month. Abu Dhabi Investment Authority sold 4 crore shares for Rs. 1,960 crore in June.
The stock is up over 48% this year, which gives investors a good chance to cash out. Lenskart posted a net profit of Rs. 228.4 crore in the June quarter, up 273% from Rs. 61.2 crore a year ago. Profit also rose 12% from the March quarter. Its operating revenue rose 43% to Rs. 2,714.2 crore.
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