SoftBank May Sell Freecharge At 50% Discount For $200 million

Japanese multinational telecommunications and Internet corporation Softbank is in talks with potential buyers to sell Freecharge, the mobile wallet company owned by Snapdeal for as low as $150-200 million. And there are reports that Alibaba-owned Paytm is one of those buyers to clinch Freecharge if terms and conditions are agreed by both the companies.

Over the past few years, Freecharge has held discussions with global payment majors like PayPal and PayU for raising fresh capital but was in vain. Softbank, helmed by Masayoshi Son, is trying to consolidate its position in the Indian market.

According to the reports, Vijay Shekar Sharma’s Paytm was approached by SoftBank a few months back when Jasper Infotech (Snapdeal’s parent) was seeking a valuation of at least $500 million for Freecharge.

An insider from this firm reported that a lot of changes have been witnessed by both Snapdeal and Freecharge in the last quarter. Paytm is interested in buying Freecharge and may look to pay around $150 million and it also wants exclusive rights along with the deal to become the sole payments platform for Flipkart and Snapdeal.