New Delhi, April 07, 2018: Walmart completed a thorough due diligence process on e-commerce firm Flipkart this week, two sources said, as the US retail giant looks to take a controlling stake of 51 percent or more in the Indian company.
Walmart has already floated a shareholder agreement, or offer proposal, and is looking to shell out about $10 billion to $12 billion for the stake that would value Flipkart at roughly $20 billion, one of the sources familiar with the matter said.
A deal is far from finalised, however, and talks between the two parties and investors in Flipkart are ongoing, said a third source according to economictimes.indiatimes.com.
The sources asked not to be named because the talks are private.
A stake in Flipkart would pit Walmart against Amazon.com in India and local media have reported that Amazon is exploring a rival offer for India’s largest home-grown e-commerce player.
Walmart is now seeking a bigger stake than previously expected. Reuters reported in February that it was in talks to purchase a stake of over 40 percent in Flipkart, which is backed by the likes of Soft Bank Group , Tiger Global, eBay, Accel Partners, Naspers, Tencent Holdings and Microsoft Corp.
