SoftBank officials quit Paytm and Policybazaar
NEW DELHI: Representatives of SoftBank Group Corporation will step down from the boards of Indian digital payments firm Paytm and the parent of online insurance aggregator Policybazaar, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said.
The decision is part of SoftBank’s global strategy to exit from the boards of most of its listed portfolio companies, said the source, adding that the Japanese tech conglomerate expected it would leave fewer regulatory issues to tackle.
SoftBank will, however, retain its shareholding in the two Indian companies, added the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity as the matter has not yet been made public.
SoftBank, Paytm and Policybazaar did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.
Both Paytm, formally known as One97 Communications, and PB Fintech Ltd, the parent of
Policybazaar, went public last year. Business news website Moneycontrol first reported the development.
Meanwhile, SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son boosted the amount of stock pledged as collateral to financial institutions to 153.3 million shares, or about 33% of his stake in the Japanese conglomerate.
The Japanese billionaire disclosed an increase of about 8.05 million shares as of March 8, worth about $291 million at today’s prices. Bloomberg calculated the change from an earlier January disclosure. The largest increase in collateral was at Daiwa Securities Group Inc. and UBS AG Tokyo Branch.
About 20 million shares are now pledged at Daiwa compared with 18 million shares as of January, while 8 million shares are pledged at UBS compared with 6 million previously. The figures increased at Julius Baer Group Ltd. to 29.5 million, up from 28 million shares.
With contributions from Bloomberg