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SoftBank Sells Rs 2,888 Crore Lenskart Stake, Returns At 5.7x
The Economic Times··25 Aug
SoftBank sold 4.5 crore Lenskart shares, about 2.6 percent of the eyewear retailer, for roughly Rs 2,888 crore in a Monday block deal at Rs 641.75 apiece. The sale cuts its stake to around 7.3 percent from 9.86 percent and lifts its return to 5.7 times. It follows a June sale of a 3.25 percent stake for Rs 2,873 crore.
Prism
What It Means For You
- If you hold Lenskart shares, repeated large block sales by an early investor can add short-term pressure on the stock price you track.
- Retail investors watching Indian IPO stocks get a reference point for how early backers typically exit positions once lock-in periods expire.
- The scale of returns shown here, 5.7 times SoftBank's investment, illustrates the kind of gains that draw more capital into Indian startups.
What's Happening
- SoftBank sold 4.5 crore Lenskart shares worth about Rs 2,888 crore in a block deal on Monday at Rs 641.75 per share.
- The sale reduces SoftBank's stake in Lenskart to roughly 7.3 percent from 9.86 percent at the end of the June quarter.
- SoftBank's aggregate return on its Lenskart investment now stands at 5.7 times, following this and a similar sale in June.
Life After The IPO Lock-In
- Lenskart's pre-IPO investor lock-in expired in May, opening the door for early backers like SoftBank to sell shares in stages.
- SoftBank earlier sold shares worth Rs 1,026 crore through Lenskart's IPO in November 2025 before this year's block deals.
- Staggered post-lock-in exits by early investors are a common pattern among recently listed Indian consumer internet companies.
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