Lenskart Solutions Ltd’s secondary share sales show no signs of slowing, with Alpha Wave Global becoming the latest investor to offer to sell shares worth up to ₹1,313 crore ($137 million) on Friday, 28 August, according to a term sheet seen by Mint.
The New York-based asset manager is offering up to 20.8 million shares, or 1.2% of Lenskart’s outstanding equity, through Alpha Wave Ventures II LP. The floor price is ₹630 per share, a 1.7% discount to Lenskart’s closing price of ₹640.60 on the National Stock Exchange on Thursday. The sale is subject to a 45-day lock-in period for the seller.
Spark Institutional Equities Pvt. Ltd, a subsidiary of Mizuho-backed Avendus Capital Pvt, and Kotak Securities Ltd are the joint bookrunners and brokers.
Alpha Wave Ventures II LP, a private growth and venture fund launched in September 2021, is selling its entire stake in Lenskart through the deal. Alpha Wave, which focuses on growth-stage companies, will continue to hold a 3.4% stake through another fund, Alpha Wave Ventures LP. Both funds are listed as public shareholders of the company.
Alpha Wave (formerly Falcon Edge Capital) invested in Peyush Bansal’s eyewear retailer with Temasek in July 2021, leading a $220 million funding round that valued the firm at $2.5 billion.
More investors cash out
The proposed sale is the latest in a series of secondary transactions by existing Lenskart investors. On 25 August, Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank sold shares worth ₹2,888 crore, two months after offloading ₹2,873 crore worth of shares in the firm. In July, Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek sold a 2% stake worth an estimated ₹1,940 crore, following a ₹1,944-crore secondary sale by Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund.
Earlier, multiple block deals on 8 May saw investors, including TR Capital, KKR-backed Birdseye View Holdings, Alpha Wave Ventures and ABG Capital, divest a combined 6.46% stake for ₹5,314 crore at ₹473.4 per share.
The May transactions followed the expiry of the six-month shareholder lock-in after Lenskart’s public listing. According to Nuvama Alternative & Quantitative Research, the expiry made nearly 1.05 billion shares eligible for trading, equivalent to around 60% of Lenskart’s outstanding equity and valued at about ₹51,573 crore based on the 7 May closing price.
The share sale also comes at a time when Lenskart’s stock is trading at record highs.
The company reported a 273% year-on-year jump in net profit to ₹228 crore for the quarter ended June. Revenue from operations rose 43.3% to ₹2,714.18 crore, while international revenue increased 38% to ₹1,203 crore.
Lenskart has also announced the incorporation of a new step-down subsidiary in China to focus on the eyewear and allied optical products business.