MUMBAI (Reuters) - Walmart Inc (WMT.N) said on Saturday in a filing with a U.S. regulator that it may take India’s Flipkart public in as early as four years, detailing for the first time a potential listing timeline for Walmart’s largest-ever acquisition.
Minority investors holding 60 percent of Flipkart’s shares “acting together, may require Flipkart to effect an initial public offering” (IPO) four years after the close of the Walmart-Flipkart transaction, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer said in a May 11 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The IPO should be done at no less a valuation than that at which Walmart invested in the Indian e-commerce firm, the filing said. Walmart announced earlier this week that it will pay $16 billion for a roughly 77 percent stake in Flipkart in what is the U.S. retail giant’s largest-ever deal and a move to take on arch rival Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) in a key growth market. The investment implies a valuation of nearly $21 billion for Bengaluru-headquartered Flipkart.
Minority shareholders after the deal include co-founder Binny Bansal, China’s Tencent Holdings (0700.HK), U.S. hedge fund Tiger Global Management and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O).
The deal now awaits clearance from India’s anti-trust regulator and is expected to close later this year.
As part of the deal, Walmart will initially appoint five directors to Flipkart’s board, two directors will be named by minority shareholders while Bansal will take one board seat, according to the filing.
Walmart said it may, in future, appoint a sixth board member with the approval of the majority of the Flipkart directors.
It also said it could
