Delhivery shares jump 7% amid block deal, Carlyle likely seller

Shares of Delhivery soared over 7% on Thursday due to surge in volume trade amid reports that American private equity firm Carlyle looks to sell its entire 2.53% stake in the e-commerce logistics company. As many as 1.8 crore shares, or a 2.5% stake, changed hands on the BSE in the first two hours of trade so far, compared to a two-week average volume of 1.18 lakh stocks. However, the name of buyer and seller cannot be ascertained as of now.

Snapping two sessions losing streak, Delhivery shares opened 3.5% higher at ₹401.95 against the previous closing price of ₹388.40 on the BSE. Extending opening gains, the logistics stock gained as much as 7.3% to ₹416.75 amid block deals.  

At the time of reporting, the stock was trading at ₹388.95, up 0.14%, paring early gains, while the market capitalisation stood at ₹28,440 crore. At the current price level, Delhivery, which made its stock market debut on May 24, 2022, has given a negative return of 20% to its shareholders against its IPO price of ₹487 a share as investors’ sentiment for the new-age internet companies is still negative or at best, cautious.

The shares are currently trading 45% lower than its 52-week high of ₹708.45 touched on July 21, 2022. While the stock has risen 34% against its 52-week low of ₹291 hit on January 27, 2023. In the last one year, the stock has fallen 23%, while it has gained 17% in six month period. In the past one month, the counter has added 7%, while it climbed 1% in a week.

As per report, Carlyle was looking to exit Delhivery by offloading its 2.53% stake in the logistics firm at a base price of ₹385.5 apiece, while would fetch ₹709.5 crore to the private equity firm. Citigroup is the broker for the block deal. Carlyle holds stake in Delhivery through its special-purpose vehicle-CA Swift Investments, as per the shareholding data available on BSE.

In 2017, Carlyle made its first investment in the logistics startup with a $100 million funding round and further infused funds in 2019 in a $395 million round led by Japan-based SoftBank. At the IPO of Delhivery in May 2022, Carlyle partially sold out of its 7.16% stake in the company and raised ₹5,235 crore through a mix of primary and secondary share sale.

In March this year, another major investor in the company, Japanese investment giant Softbank, sold its 3.8% shares in the logistics service provider for ₹954 crore. Earlier, Tiger Global had offloaded 1.2 crore shares at ₹335 apiece. Post stake sale, SoftBank and Tiger Global shareholding in Delhivery came down to 14% and 2.98%, respectively.  

In the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2023, Delhivery's net loss widened to ₹159 crore from ₹119.8 crore in the year ago period, amid fall in revenue for the second consecutive quarter amid a slowdown in e-commerce. The operating income dropped 10% to ₹1,859.6 crore in Q4FY23, from ₹2,017 crore in the same period last year.

For the full year FY23, Delhivery reported a net loss of ₹1,007 crore compared to the loss of ₹1,011 crore in FY22. The operating revenue grew 5% to ₹7,225 crore in FY23 against ₹6,882 crore a year ago. 

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