Walmart, the American retail guru is keen to buy stakes in Indian e-commerce company, Flipkart and the rumors circulating suggest that the Indian firm would boast a valuation of $20 billion once the deal is completed.
Anonymous sources close to the company suggested that Walmart is set to buy out the shares of Flipkart and the stakes of its investors as well. The deal is yet to reach a conclusion and the details are still in negotiations.
The deal will most probably be paid in tranches and will include the purchase of primary and secondary shares, said one of the sources. Flipkart’s early investors such as Tiger Global look will most likely leave the company following the deal.
Flipkart raised several funds last year, notably from eBay, Tencent Holdings and Microsoft Corp but the most astronomical fund raising came from Japanese venture fund, SoftBank Vision fund, which fueled Flipkart with over $2.5 billion.
Walmart is certainly looking forward to come in the attractive Indian e-commerce market with the market share size that Flipkart already boasts and are looking very confident in kicking out American e-commerce company Amazon out of the landscape.
Amazon and Flipkart have been battling fiercely for monopoly of the Indian market almost 2 years at the price of billions of dollars spent in discounts and promotions in order to build brand trust and woo the tough-to-convince Indian customers.
There were even reports emerging that Flipkart might agree to get acquired by Amazon but there were nothing formal to these rumors. However, a deal with Walmart instead looks more believable.