Flipkart, India's e-commerce giant, made a deal with Walmart Inc. - led group after months of negotiations and discussions. Flipkart board finally approved the deal to sell 75 percent of the company to the American retailer - Walmart at a price of $15 billion.
Under the proposed deal, SoftBank Group Corp. will sell the more than 20 percent stake at a valuation of around $20 billion. Google-parent Alphabet Inc. is likely to participate in the investment with Walmart, as per the reports. A final close is expected within 10 days, though terms could still change and a deal isn’t certain, as per them.
The Walmart-Flipkart deal has been months in the making and Amazon tries to scupper it with a late bid for the Indian e-commerce market leader. Amazon was willing to offer a $2 billion break-up fee had Flipkart decided to enter the deal and it fell through for some reason. In fact, this is the very reason that Flipkart’s board chose Walmart, as selling to the US retail giant would be easier in terms of regulatory clearance. Bloomberg’s report says,
"Amazon is out of the running unless Walmart hits unforeseen trouble."By acquiring Flipkart, Walmart begins its India journey ahead of Amazon, whereas it struggled to keep up with Amazon’s disruption in the US.
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