Wal-Mart in talks to buy stake in Flipkart
HONG KONG/MUMBAI : Wal-Mart Stores is in talks to buy a minority stake in India’s largest e-commerce firm Flipkart, two sources familiar with the matter said, as the world’ s biggest retailer aims to get a slice of a fast-growing online retail market.
One of the sources said the US retailer was looking to invest between $750 million and $1 billion in Flipkart, but the final value and size of the stake would depend on the outcome of talks about the company’ s overall valuation.
He added Wal-Mart and Flipkart were also contemplating a collaboration that would see them leverage each other’s expertise in retail and supply chains in India.
Wal-Mart in India and Flipkart declined to comment.
A deal would pit Wal-Mart against US rival Amazon, which has been expanding rapidly in the country’s retail market and is now Flipkart’ s biggest competitor. Wal-Mart only operates wholesale stores in India.
“With Amazon slowly taking a lead over the Indian players, all these unicorns including Flipkart and Snapdeal are out there in the market to raise funds ,” the source said. “Companies such as Wal-Mart would be more long-term investors, but there aren’ t many to write such big cheques.”
Flipkart has been valued at about $11.5 billion (₹77,050 crore), local media reported last month, citing a US regulatory filing from investor Valic, a division of American International Group.
The Economic Times newspaper, which first reported the talks on Tuesday, said a meeting between the two sides was scheduled for this week.