Walmart, the US retail major has raised its stake in Flipkart as it paid $3.5 billion (around ₹28,953 crore) to acquire shares from its non-controlling interest holders in first half of 2023, said a report by PTI citing Walmart’s statement.
During the first half of 2023, Flipkart received $700 million related to new rounds of equity funding for its subsidiary PhonePe, said the Bentonville-based Walmart in a US Securities & Exchange Commission (US SEC) filing.
“During the six months ended July 31, 2023, the company paid USD 3.5 billion to acquire shares from certain Flipkart non-controlling interest holders and settle the liability to former noncontrolling interest holders of PhonePe” said the report quoting Walmart’s US SEC filing.
The US retailer has acquired the stake from hedge fund Tiger Global and Accel Partners. It also acquired the residual stake of Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal, said the report.
Post the acquisition of further stake in Flipkart, Walmart’s total holding in the Indian e-commerce company would rise to 80.5%, as per some reports.
In 2018, Walmart completed the acquisition of a 77% stake in Flipkart.
The company is planning to list Flipkart on the stock exchanges.
In August, Walmart had said that Flipkart’s GMV was strong and e-commerce rose 26% in the June quarter of this fiscal year.
“Both our businesses in India, Flipkart and PhonePe, had strong quarters as well. A lot of that is driven from just really being close to the customer in those markets and the combination of value and convenience that we’re now able to offer,” Walmart International president and chief executive officer Judith McKenna had said.
Mahindra Logistics Ltd on Friday said that it has collaborated with Flipkart for providing a dedicated fleet of heavy commercial vehicles, assistance in route management and network operations, among others for the latter’s pan India operations.
Under the partnership, Mahindra Logistics will operate 32 feet single axle HCVs for Flipkart in collaboration with Daimler India Commercial Vehicles, which will run on multiple national routes, across the country.
