Flipkart Sweetens Snapdeal Buyout Bid

Indian ecommerce giant Flipkart has offered a revised buyout deal of up to $ 950 million for the acquisition of the smaller rival Snapdeal. According to news firm CNBC, the new proposal is being evaluated by the company’s board.

Delhi based ecommerce firm Snapdeal had previously rejected Flipkart’s initial $ 700 – $ 800 million offer and in turn had asked for buyout bid ranging close to $ 900 million. According to sources close to the deal talks between the two companies are on going but the final closure of the deal could still be months away. 

Flipkart’s offer is only for the acquisition of the online market space and unicommerce business Snapdeal. Its logistics arm Vulcan Express along with their payments platform FreeCharge will be sold independently. GATI and Axis Bank have already come out as front runners interested in acquiring Vulcan and FreeCharge respectively.

Snapdeal reached peak evaluation in February 2016 at $ 6.5 billion where they raised $ 50 million from investors. But majority investor SoftBank reduced their valuation by more than $ 1 billion for the potential acquisition from Flipkart against the wishes of its founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal.

This sale, according to a report from Livemint, is likely to be accompanied by an equity infusion into Flipkart by SoftBank. The Japanese firm is also in talks to buy part of Flipkart’s majority investor Tiger Global Management’s 30% – 35% stake in the company.

If this deal between both the ecommerce companies fails, VCCircle reported Sanpdeal’s future will depend on how existing investors will support the struggling company. According to experts, it will be very difficult for Snapdeal to find interested buyers as the entire brand value is built around unique transactions and users versus the giants like Amazon and Flipkart.

Amazon recently got government approval to invest $ 500 million in the food processing industry and has invested Rs. 1,680 crores in their Indian unit. Flipkart is also reportedly in talks with eBay India over an acquisition deal. Therefore, a merger between Snapdeal and Flipkart would give global ecommerce company Amazon tough competition in almost all sectors.