INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Walmart-Flipkart now awaits clearance from India's anti-trust regulator.
US retailer Walmart Inc said on Saturday in a filing with a United States regulator that it may take India's
Flipkart public in as early as four years, detailing for the first time a potential listing timeline for Walmart's largest-ever
Minority investors holding 60 percent of Flipkart's shares "acting together, may require Flipkart to effect an initial public offering"
(IPO) four years after the close of the Walmart-Flipkart transaction, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer said in a May 11 filing with
the United States Securities and Exchange Commission
done at no less a valuation than that at which Walmart invested in the Indian e-commerce firm, the filing said
Walmart announced earlier this week that it will pay $16 billion for a roughly 77 percent stake in Flipkart in what is the United States
retail giant's largest-ever deal and a move to take on arch rival Amazon.com Inc in a key growth market
$21 billion for Bengaluru-headquartered Flipkart
Minority shareholders after the deal include co-founder Binny Bansal, China's Tencent Holdings, United States hedge fund Tiger Global
Management and Microsoft Corp
anti-trust regulator and is expected to close later this year
As part of the deal, Walmart will initially appoint five directors to Flipkart's board, two directors will be named by minority
with the approval of the majority of the Flipkart directors
It also said it could appoint or replace Flipkart's chief executive and other key executives of group companies in consultation with
Flipkart to issue new ordinary shares of up to $3 billion before the close of the "transactions and on or before the first anniversary of
Reuters previously reported that Google-parent Alphabet was in talks to invest about $3 billion for a roughly 15 percent stake in
Flipkart.That deal could be sealed before the close of the Walmart-Flipkart transaction or immediately after, a source told Reuters,
declining to be named as the talks are private
Walmart also said no party would be liable to pay a termination fee if a share issuance or purchase agreement with Flipkart were
terminated.The Economic Times newspaper reported on Friday, citing unnamed sources, that Japan's SoftBank Group, which owns a roughly 20
percent stake in Flipkart, was rethinking its exit due to tax liabilities and because it saw further value in Flipkart.SoftBank Chief
Executive Masayoshi Son has said that their investment in Flipkart had grown to almost $4 billion
2018(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
