In the past couple of months, there have been multiple reports around Alibaba buying a stake in Micromax. ETTech now reports that the deal is almost close to being wrapped up, with the Chinese giant reportedly picking up a 25 percent stake for about $700 million (Rs 4,200 crore approximately).
As per the publication, the deal could be announced in less than a fortnight, and Alibaba’s investment could boost Micromax’s valuation to around $5 billion. Japan’s SoftBank, which currently holds a 32 percent stake in Alibaba, is also said to be participating in this transaction. This is in line with a recent report, which claimed that the Japanese company too was looking at investing in Micromax, but talks had believed to have been stalled on the matter of valuation.
The investment is likely to see existing investors like TA Associates, Sequoia Capital, Sandstone Partners and Madison India Capital HC leave, albeit with massive gains. TA Associates had acquired a 15 percent stake in 2010 for Rs 225 crore when the company’s valuation was around Rs 1,500 crore, while Sequoia Capital, Sandstone Partners and Madison India Capital HC own 2.68 percent and around 0.4 percent stake respectively.