Three years on, Flipkart gets SoftBank’s backing
MUMBAI: SoftBank Group Corp. is in talks with Flipkart to invest $700 million in the internet retailer, three years after it sold its entire stake in the company to Walmart Inc., two people aware of the development said.
The proposed investment in Flipkart from SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 is part of a $1.2-1.5 billion funding round, the people said on condition of anonymity. The transaction is expected to value Flipkart at $28 billion, one of the people said, adding that the deal is expected to close in 3-4 months. The transaction, the second person said, could value Flipkart at as much as $30 billion, depending on the final set of investors. Prosus Ventures, the investment arm of South African conglomerate Naspers, and other existing investors could raise their stakes, the people said.
The transaction will precede a proposed listing of the Indian e-commerce giant, slated to be in the next 12-18 months, the first person said. The investors signing up for the ongoing round expect Flipkart’s valuation to rise to around $35-40 billion by then, with online sales surging because of the pandemic, the second person said.
Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC and Canadian pension fund CPPIB are also in talks to invest in Flipkart, the second person said. This was first reported by The Economic Times on May 11. Flipkart is unlikely to go for another funding round before its IPO, the people cited above said. Investment banks JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs are managing the transaction for Flipkart.
This is SoftBank’s second entry as an investor in Flipkart. It exited the company in May 2018. The proposed deal is also happening at nearly twice the valuation at which it sold its stake three years ago.
SoftBank’s Vision Fund 1 invested $2.5 billion in Flipkart in August 2017 but sold its approximately 20% stake within a year after Walmart agreed to buy a controlling stake in the startup for $16 billion. SoftBank sold its stake for $4 billion, netting $1.5 billion in profit. But the exit required the Japanese investor to pay a steep 43% short-term capital gains tax, for which the fund had set aside $648 million, Business Standard reported on August 7 2018.
SoftBank Vision Fund 2 has made aggressive bets in India this year. It is now set to invest in food delivery unicorn Swiggy, which would be its first bet in the foodtech space.
SoftBank’s investments in banking tech firm Zeta last month valued the firm at more than $1 billion. Its proposed investment in OfBusiness is also set to catapult the business-tobusiness marketplace to the unicorn club.
SoftBank and JP Morgan
declined to comment. Flipkart, Goldman Sachs Ventures, Prosus, GIC, and CPPIB did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday evening.
Meanwhile, SoftBank is evaluating selling shares worth around $1.5 billion by starting its first tranche of dilution in the proposed initial share sale of One97 Communications Ltd, which runs Paytm.