Snapdeal cofounders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal are looking at alternative options as Flipkart’s revised termsheet has a lot of “holdbacks and clause,” according to a report by Moneycontrol.
The report also stated the new term sheet made an all stock deal “difficult to consider” and therefore the founders have been meeting with other senior executives looking for an alternative path. These one on one meetings with senior executives including heads of multiple business units have been taking place for at least the past one week.
The Snapdeal and Flipkart acquisition has been one of the most talked about mergers in recent times. Snapdeal, till date, has received two all stake acquisition offers from Flipkart. The first offer of $ 550 million was way below the initial expectation of $ 1 billion and at a much lower valuation. The second offer was sent last week was for $ 900 million after Snapdeal reportedly asked for a better valuation.
According to the Moneycontrol report, this much awaited deal is not just a negotiation of numbers anymore and now also includes terms, clauses and holdbacks. One of their sources also said the Flipkart deal was now in a state of “limbo.”
Logistics and digital payments arm Vulcan and FreeCharge will be sold separately and the company will also be shutting down multiple warehouses as a part of Plan B. This plan may also include another round of massive layoffs affecting around 600 to 1000 employees of the company.
While alternative measures are being set up, reports also claim ecommerce website Infibeam has made an offer to acquire Snapdeal at a valuation of $ 1 billion. The Moneycontrol report added one of their sources said the founders were more likely to be keen on Infibeam as they will get to retain their positions, post acquisition. Both Snapdeal and Infibeam have neither confirmed nor denied these rumors.
Founder Kunal Bahl, in an email to employees sent in April, indicated the founders had little control over the developments as the investors had taken most of the decisions out of their hands.