Bhavish Aggarwal sells ₹324 crore shares of Ola Electric: Sold his 2.2% stake in three consecutive days; Company’s loan of Rs 260 crore repaid

Ola Electric Mobility founder and promoter Bhavish Aggarwal sold the company’s shares for the third consecutive trading session on December 18. In three days, he has sold about 2.2% stake, the total value of which is more than Rs 324 crore.

According to exchange filings, Bhavish Aggarwal on Thursday sold 2.83 crore equity shares of Ola Electric (0.64% of total paid-up capital) at an average price of Rs 31.9 per share.

He got around Rs 90.3 crore from this deal. Earlier, shares worth Rs 142.3 crore were sold on Wednesday and Rs 91.87 crore on Tuesday. With this amount, Bhavish has paid off the company’s loan of Rs 260 crore.

Stake sold to repay loan

Bhavish Aggarwal had informed the exchange on December 16 that he had sold a small part of his personal stake outright to repay the promoter-level loan. This loan amount was around Rs 260 crore. But in three days there was a sale of ₹324 crore, which is more than the loan.

The company said that this is a one-time limited monetization so that the promoter pledge ends. Pledges come with risk and volatility. Bhavish says that the company should run with zero pledge.

Shares rose 10% after repaying the loan

Ola Electric shares jumped nearly 10% to close at Rs 34.40 in early trade on Friday, December 19. The surge came after the company told the exchanges that founder Bhavish Aggarwal has completely repaid the promoter-level loan of about Rs 260 crore by selling a part of his personal stake.

According to the company, after completion of this process, all the 3.93% shares pledged by the promoter have been released and now the promoter pledge in Ola Electric has become zero. This is being considered a big positive sign in the market, because investors associate promoter pledge with risk and instability.

The stock was under constant pressure from sales

Ola Electric’s shares remained under pressure due to continuous promoter selling and fell 5% to close at an all-time closing low of Rs 31.26 on December 18. The stock had fallen nearly 80% from its record high of Rs 157.4 (August 20).

After the fall, the market cap of the company declined to Rs 13,797 crore, whereas at its highest level it was around Rs 69,000 crore.