US retail giant Walmart will buy a majority stake in India’s largest e-commerce company Flipkart, according to the head of SoftBank, a major stakeholder in the Indian firm.
“Last night, (they) reached a final agreement and it was decided that Flipkart will be sold to America’s Walmart,” said SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, whose firm owns a 20 per cent stake in Flipkart.
Walmart Inc and Flipkart are set to announce the mega deal which will see the US-retailer picking up significant majority stake in the Indian e-commerce major for close to USD 15 billion, sources said. The announcement is expected late afternoon today, the source said.
The deal will see some of the biggest investors in Flipkart offloading their holding in the country’s largest e-commerce company. Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp and Tiger Global Management are said to be selling almost all of their about 20 per cent stake each in Flipkart.
If all goes well, Walmart will likely end up with 60-80 per cent of Flipkart, valuing the company at upwards of USD 20 billion, the sources said.