The board of Indian online marketplace Snapdeal has rejected a bid worth US$700-$750 million presented by Flipkart after concluding due diligence, Mint newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Japan’s SoftBank Group, Snapdeal’s biggest investor, is looking to sell the firm to Flipkart which seeks to secure a stake in India’s largest e-commerce player.
The offer by Bengaluru-headquartered Flipkart last week was only for the Snapdeal online marketplace and did not include the company’s logistics arm, Vulcan Express, or its digital payments unit, FreeCharge, Mint said, quoting three anonymous sources.
Snapdeal had been expected to fetch at least US$1 billion (roughly Rs. 6,474 crores) from its sale to Flipkart.
The deal has hit hurdles right from the start. SoftBank has been pushing for a sale since March after Snapdeal lost out in the e-commerce war to Flipkart and Amazon India. Snapdeal co-founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal as well as two key Snapdeal shareholders, Kalaari Capital and Nexus Venture Partners, were initially opposed to a sale but SoftBank brought them around to pursuing the deal with Flipkart in May. Bahl, Bansal, Kalaari and Nexus are expected to receive cash payouts as part of the proposed deal, but said payouts have also faced opposition from shareholders.
Full Content: Live Mint
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