July 31 (Reuters) – Walmart (WMT.N) has taken additional management of the Indian e-commerce agency Flipkart by shopping for out hedge fund Tiger World and enterprise capital agency Accel's remaining stakes, in response to media stories on Monday.
Walmart paid $1.4 billion to purchase the remaining Flipkart shares owned by Tiger World in current days, valuing the Indian firm at about $35 billion, the Wall Avenue Journal reported, citing a letter the fund despatched to traders. That is down from the near-$38 billion valuation that Flipkart attained in 2021.
A Walmart spokesperson confirmed to Reuters on Monday that the corporate purchased extra Flipkart shares from some traders, together with Tiger World, however declined to share any monetary particulars.
The U.S. retailer purchased a 77% stake in Flipkart for about $16 billion in 2018, its greatest funding. It was not instantly clear what Walmart's stake was after the acquisition.
Flipkart has grown to develop into one in all India's largest on-line marketplaces, specializing in small cities and cities, in contrast to rival Amazon, which has extra of an city bent.
Like Amazon, Flipkart started by promoting books however diversified quickly into promoting client electronics, style, groceries, and residential necessities. It additionally gives providers together with journey reserving and on-line prescriptions and, like different digital startups, has benefited from India's speedy smartphone adoption and low-cost cell knowledge.
In its most up-to-date quarter ended April 30, Flipkart generated double-digit gross sales progress, boosted by new customers in some cities and a 50% bounce in advert gross sales, Walmart stated.
Extra lately, executives have singled out Flipkart as a key driver in assembly Walmart's goal of doubling the gross merchandise quantity it sells in overseas markets to $200 billion in 5 years.
“We stay assured in the way forward for Flipkart and are much more optimistic in regards to the alternative in India right now than after we first invested,” Walmart stated in a press release.
The sale of Accel's stake in Flipkart was reported by the Financial Instances newspaper. The report didn't say how a lot Walmart had paid.
Accel and Tiger World didn't instantly reply to requests for remark.
Reporting by Yana Gaur and Urvi Dagar in Bengaluru and Siddharth Cavale in New York; Extra reporting by Bharat Govind Gautam and Rishabh Jaiswal; Modifying by Kim Coghill, Chris Reese and Nivedita Bhattacharjee; Modifying by Kevin Liffey
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