Walmart may need to list new acquisition Flipkart within four years

Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, could be forced to publicly list its newly acquired Indian e-commerce company, Flipkart Group, within four years at the request of a small minority of Flipkart shareholders, a public filing shows.

Walmart’s $16bn purchase last week of India’s biggest online seller gave the Arkansasbased retailer a 77% stake in Flipkart and a foothold in a country with 1.3-billion people and one of the world’s fastest growing economies.

That the purchase for India’s most valuable startup gave Walmart an advantage up over its chief rival, Amazon.com, which has been investing heavily in India, only sweetened the deal. But whatever euphoria existed among Walmart executives for striking the most expensive purchase in the company’s history could be short lived.

The deal’s terms give investors controlling as little as 14% of Flipkart’s shares the right to require Walmart to take the Indian company public in as soon as four years. The investors could demand that Flipkart’s valuation through an initial public offering (IPO) be no less than the roughly $20.8bn the company commanded when Walmart purchased a 77% stake.

“While the immediate focus will be on serving customers and growing the business, Walmart supports Flipkart’s ambition to transition into a publiclylisted, majority-owned subsidiary in the future,” Walmart said before the arrangements were disclosed on Friday. Its stake in Flipkart could fall below 77% well before a potential IPO, requiring a greater share of other investors to agree to a public listing.