Mastercard has sold its entire 4.31% Pine Labs stake for ₹933.6 Cr through a bulk deal, with a clutch of institutional investors picking up the shares.
The exit adds to a string of stake sales by Pine Labs’ early institutional backers even as the payments company’s stock has rallied more than 25% in the past month.
Mastercard first invested in Pine Labs in 2020 and divested 59.2 Lakh shares during the company’s November 2025 IPO for ₹130.9 Cr.
Pine Labs’ early backer Mastercard has exited the company by selling its entire 4.31% stake through a bulk deal on Tuesday. The investor offloaded 4.97 Cr shares at ₹187.75 apiece, fetching ₹933.6 Cr.
The deal was executed at a 5% discount to Pine Labs’ closing price today. Mutual funds and foreign institutional investors emerged as key buyers, with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company picking up the largest chunk of 93.1 Lakh shares, according to BSE data.
Societe Generale bought 87.7 Lakh shares, while Citi Group acquired 66.7 Lakh shares. BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs, Franklin Templeton, Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund, Morgan Stanley and Susquehanna Pacific were among the other buyers.
This is Mastercard’s second major stake sale in Pine Labs
since the company’s IPO in November 2025. The investor sold 59.2 Lakh shares in the IPO for ₹130.9 Cr, generating 1.7X returns on its initial investment. Mastercard first backed Pine Labs in 2020.
Several of Pine Labs’ early institutional backers have pared their holdings since its listing. Actis, Invesco and Madison India have also offloaded shares in the company.
The latest exit comes despite Pine Labs’ recent recovery on the bourses. The stock remains down more than 15% year-to-date but has gained over 25% in the past month, partly following the reintroduction of merchant discount rates (MDR) on UPI. Pine Labs shares closed Tuesday 2.07% higher at ₹197.55.
The recent rally has also been supported by positive brokerage commentary.
Motilal Oswal initiated coverage on Pine Labs on September 21 with a ‘Buy’ rating and a target price of ₹250, citing projected growth across its payments businesses.
The brokerage expects Pine Labs’ digital infrastructure and transaction platform to grow revenue at a 24.5% CAGR through FY28, while its issuing and acquiring platform is projected to grow revenue at 23% CAGR.
It expects overall revenue, adjusted EBITDA and PAT to grow at 24%, 46% and 129% CAGR, respectively, between FY26 and FY28, with adjusted EBITDA margins rising to 28.7% by FY28 from 9% in FY24.
In the first quarter of FY27, Pine Labs net profit skyrocketed 4X YoY to ₹4.8 Cr while its operating revenue zoomed 20% YoY to ₹736.9.
Source: Inc42
