Two companies announce share buybacks at up to 40% premium. Do you own any?

With numerous promoters selling their stakes in 2025, two companies have taken a contrarian stance by initiating sizable share buybacks — both at hefty premiums to their current market prices.

This development comes at a time when promoter and insider selling reached a record $30 billion in the first half of 2025, sending overall promoter ownership in listed entities down to a seven-quarter low of 50.1% in Q4FY25.

While much of the market has been focused on outflows, these two companies are deploying capital to repurchase shares from the open market, a move that often signals management’s conviction in the long-term value of their business.

Here’s a closer look at the two names making headlines with their buyback programs:

Tracxn Technologies

Tracxn Technologies, a SaaS-based startup intelligence platform that tracks over 4 million startups, 72,900 investors, and 786,000 transactions, has approved a buyback worth Rs 800 million — a figure that represents 23.7% of its capital and reserves.

The shares of the company will be bought back at a price of Rs 75 per share, a premium of 25% to the current market price of Rs 56.21 for the stock.

According to disclosures, the buyback is intended to optimize capital allocation, improve return ratios, and return surplus funds to shareholders. By reducing the number of outstanding shares, the company also aims to enhance earnings per share (EPS) and return on equity (ROE).

Tanla Platforms

Hyderabad-based Tanla Platforms, a communications platform-as-a-service (CPaaS) company with a 30% market share, has also launched a buyback programme. The company, which serves major clients like BSNL, Airtel, and Vodafone Idea, is repurchasing 2 million shares (approximately 1.5% of its total equity) at Rs 875 per share.

The buyback price reflects a 39.4% premium over Tanla’s recent trading level of Rs 627.55 on the BSE, although the stock is still down nearly 37.5% from its all-time high of Rs 1,004.10. The total buyback size is Rs 1.75 billion.

Tanla processes over 800 billion transactions annually, powering about 63% of India’s A2P SMS traffic, and maintains longstanding relationships with over 50 of the top 100 clients, many of which span more than 5 years. It also offers digital platforms such as TrueBlock, Wisely, and Wise Albert, in addition to its core enterprise communication services.

In a year marked by heavy promoter selling, both Tracxn Technologies and Tanla Platforms stand out for taking the opposite route — repurchasing shares at substantial premiums.

These buybacks not only reduce equity capital but could also signal the management’s belief that the current market prices do not reflect the companies’ intrinsic value.

While near-term sectoral challenges persist, the capital allocation decisions from these companies could be seen as an indication of long-term strategic confidence.

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