Mumbai: Shares of Ola Electric Mobility Limited slipped further on Thursday after founder and promoter Bhavish Aggarwal sold another chunk of his personal shareholding through open market transactions.
The stock fell nearly 3 per cent to trade around Rs 32.22 apiece during early trade and touched an intra-day low of Rs 31.56, keeping it close to its 52-week low levels. The decline came even as the broader market showed some stability, with the NSE Nifty index rising around 0.29 per cent.
According to bulk deal data available on the National Stock Exchange, Aggarwal sold about 4.19 crore equity shares at an average price of Rs 33.96 per share on Wednesday. The total value of the transaction stood at nearly Rs 142 crore. The buyers of these shares could not be identified from the exchange data. Ola Electric clarified that the share sale was part of a one-time and limited monetisation of a small portion of the founder’s personal stake.
The main objective of the transaction was to fully repay a promoter-level loan amounting to Rs 260 crore. The company said the pledge release involved a mix of share monetisation and other personal income sources of the founder. As a result of this exercise, all promoter-level share pledges totalling about 3.93 per cent have now been completely released, making the founder-promoter debt-free.
This development comes days after Ola Electric shares had already come under pressure following an earlier bulk deal by Aggarwal, as reported by IANS. The stock has been witnessing sustained selling over the past few weeks and has corrected sharply over the last three months, keeping it near its yearly low. Despite the recent sales, the company has maintained that there is no dilution of promoter control and no impact on its business operations or long-term strategy.
Ola Electric has also reiterated that the transaction was carried out entirely at the promoter’s personal level and does not affect the company’s financial position. At around 9:46 a.m. on Thursday, the stock was trading around Rs 31.88, still down sharply for the day, as investors remained cautious amid continued selling pressure.
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