Block deal galore in first quarter of 2023 – Here is what to expect going ahead

Since January 2023, Indian markets have seen block deals worth Rs 35,000 crore or $4.3 billion. Nearly half of that has come from the Adani Group and its transaction with GQG Partners.

The Adani family had sold stake in four group companies - Adani Ports, Adani Green, Adani Enterprise and Adani Transmission to GQG worth over Rs 15,500 crore or $1.78 billion.

Apart from Adani Group, other promoters also sold a substantial chunk in some of their group companies. Biocon sold a 10 percent stake in Syngene in tranches worth nearly Rs 2,250 crore to finance the Viatris deal.

The Gangwal family also raised close to Rs 3,000 crore through the sale of a 3.7 percent stake in InterGlobe Aviation.

Even the private equity investors have sold big chunks in this quarter. For instance, Barings PE sold 10 percent stake in Coforge raising Rs 2,200 crore and Apax Partners on the other hand sold 3 percent stake in Shriram Finance, which took place last week.

Other such deals that took place included SoftBank and Tiger Global that sold their stake in Delhivery.

A large block was also seen in Home First Finance, where nearly 8 percent equity exchanged hands. Bessemer, which is a VC firm, was the seller in this transaction that took place last week. Blocks also took place in Paytm, with Alibaba selling stake, and Samvardhana Motherson, where Sojitz Corp sold close to 3 percent stake.

CNBC-TV18 has learnt that more such block deals are in the pipeline and investment banking sources expect deals worth $5 billion to take place before the end of March.