Walmart buying into India retailer

Sources say company wants 60 to 80% of e-commerce business.

Walmart is close to finalizing a deal to buy a majority stake in India’s leading e-commerce company for at least $12 billion and may complete the agreement in the next two weeks, according to people familiar with the matter.

All the major investors in Flipkart Online Services are now on board with the Walmart purchase, after an earlier debate over an Amazon. com acquisition, said the people, asking not to be named because the matter is private. Tiger Global Management will sell nearly all its 20 percent stake in Flipkart, while SoftBank Group Corp. will offload a substantial part of its 20 percent-plus holding, the people said. Walmart will likely end up with 60 percent to 80 percent of Flipkart, valued at about $20 billion, they said.

Among the issues still to be resolved are whether Flipkart’s founders will lead the business after the purchase, how much each existing investor sells and what Walmart’s final stake will be. It’s also possible that terms will change or the talks will fall apart.

The deal, if completed, will give Walmart a substantial foothold in an emerging market of 1.3 billion people. The Bentonville, Arkansas-based company is the world’s largest retailer, but it has struggled against Amazon as consumers migrate to online commerce. India is the next big potential prize after the U.S. and China, where foreign retailers have made little progress against Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

“There isn’t another country with this kind of an opportunity,” said Satish Meena, a New Delhi-based senior forecast analyst at Forrester Research Inc. “India may not be a big deal now, but it’s the future opportunity that Walmart and Amazon are eyeing.”

Walmart declined to comment, while Flipkart didn’t respond to requests for comment. Walmart shares were down almost 1 percent to $86.16 at 10:16 a.m. in New York.

Flipkart’s board had seriously considered Walmart and Amazon as potential partners, but ultimately decided Walmart could close a deal more easily. Walmart likely faces fewer regulatory hurdles because it has no online retail presence in the country now, while Amazon is the second-largest e-commerce player and Flipkart’s primary rival. Flipkart founders Sachin and Binny Bansal are also said to have favored Walmart.

Amazon has already been aggressively expanding in India on its own. Founder Jeff Bezos has committed $5.5 billion to the country and his local chief, Amit Agarwal, has made progress by adapting the site to local conditions.