Snapdeal Flipkart Acquisition Gets Shareholder Approval

The long winding acquisition talks between ecommerce rivals Flipkart and Snapdeal might finally come to a conclusion. According to media reports, in a recent development Tata Group chairman emeritus Ratan Tata, Temasek, BlackRock and Foxconn have given their in principle approval to the deal. The Snapdeal board, according to sources, have asked minority shareholder’s approval on the revised Flipkart deal which is worth $ 950 million to $ 970 million.

The Gurgaon based online market space startup, Snapdeal requires the approval of at least 75% of minority shareholders for the deal to go ahead, as a part of the clauses in the revised deal. However, the merger still awaits the final approval from PremjiInvest and Ontario Pension Fund, among others. Inc42 reported, a source close to the deal said, “Flipkart wants all the shareholders to agree to the deal. If that does not happen, then the ecommerce player might decide to not move ahead with the deal.”

In August 2014, Ratan Tata led a funding round and invested an undisclosed amount in the upcoming eretail company. Temasek participated in two funding rounds investing an undisclosed amount in June 2013 and $ 100 million in a Series E round in May 2014. There are 30 other investors whose approval is required for the merger. SoftBank Corp, Ru-Net Holdings, Tybourne Capital, Alibaba Group, Bessemer, Venture Partners, IndoUS Ventures, Kalaari Capital, Saama Capital, eBay, Nexus Venture Partners, Intel Capital and Singapore based investment entity Brother Fortune Apparel are the other Snapdeal investors.

Snapdeal, reportedly left the decision of the acquisition on the shareholders because the revised termsheet had numerous clauses and holdbacks. One of the clauses put the liability of any wrongdoing by the company on the shareholders, post the acquisition. The Deccan Herald reported the Snapdeal board is expected to meet next week to make a final decision and the Flipkart board will meet later this week to discuss matters pertaining to the buyout.

As a part of the merger, Japan based SoftBank will invest $ 2 billion in Flipkart to own 20% of the combined entity, buying out one third of Tiger Global‘s shares in Flipkart.