Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd (BCCL) also known as Times Group would like to invest in Flipkart Ltd, India’s largest e-commerce firm. The amount is about Rs.500 crore for small equity. The deal is partly by cash and ads, as per mint report said.
As per the report, Flipkart will issue shares to BCCL in return for cash and ads of its media properties such as The Times of India, The Economic Times newspapers and ET Now and Times Now channels for several years.
Flipkart and Times Group has not confirmed yet.
Theoretically, at Flipkart’s presumed $15 billion valuation, aRs.500 crore deal would translate into a 0.5% stake.
If the Flipkart deal goes through, it will boost BCCL’s already strong connections with India’s booming start-up business.
BCCL struck a similar deal with online marketplace Snapdeal (Jasper Infotech Pvt. Ltd) in February. It also invested in several start-ups like Uber, Haptik, in-shorts and education start-up Coursera. Times Group also running its own real estate listing website known as magicbricks.com and digital music start-up Gaana. All these investments held through its Internet arm, Times Internet Ltd.