TIL Desk/Business/Mumbai/ Walmart is nearing a deal to acquire a majority stake in India’s e-commerce major Flipkart for at least $12 billion. The agreement is expected to be signed in the next two weeks. Major investors in Flipkart Online Services are now on board with the Walmart purchase.
Tiger Global Management will sell nearly all its 20 per cent stake in Flipkart, while SoftBank Group will offload a substantial part of its 20 per cent-plus holding. Walmart will likely end up with 60 per cent to 80 per cent of Flipkart, valued at about $20 billion.
Among the issues still to be resolved are whether Flipkart’s founders will lead the business after the purchase, how much each existing investor sells and what Walmart’s final stake will be. It’s also possible that terms will change or the talks will fall apart. The deal will give Walmart a substantial foothold in India. The retail major has struggled against Amazon as consumers migrate to online commerce.
