- The Jasper Infotech board has rejected an initial offer, estimated at $800-900 million, for its troubled online marketplace Snapdeal, from rival ecommerce company Flipkart, according to people briefed on the matter.
- The development comes days after Bengaluru-headquartered Flipkart, the country’s largest online retailer, completed its commercial and legal due diligence of Gurgaonbased Snapdeal, a process that started about eight weeks back.
- According to two sources aware of the developments, talks between the parties are expected to continue. It is, however, yet unclear if and when Flipkart will come back with a revised formal offer.
- Flipkart, which had an exclusivity period to make a formal offer till July 3, had appointed global professional services firm EY to conduct the due diligence on its behalf, while Snapdeal had hired Deloitte.
- As part of a two-step agreement, SoftBank is expected to invest about $1.5-2 billion in Flipkart, post the closure of the Snapdeal acquisition, which will see the telecom, media and technology-focused investor pick up a substantial stake in the Sachin and Binny Bansal-founded market leader.
MINORITY INVESTORS
A revised offer by Flipkart is also expected to be one that will be more palatable to Snapdeal’s minority investors, a list that includes PremjiInvest — the personal investment arm of WiproBSE 0.21 % chairman Azim Premji, Tata Group Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and BlackRock, among others.
An offer has to be first accepted by the Jasper Infotech board, and then shared with its 20-odd investors, who have to sign off on it.
Additionally, both TVS Logistics, one of India’s largest third-party logistics players, and Future Supply Chain Solutions, promoted by retail titan Kishore Biyani’s Future Group, have considered bidding for Vulcan Express.
However, Jasper Infotech is yet to close any of the deals, with Flipkart also a possible contender for the logistics arm as part of a separate transaction.
via Flipkart: Snapdeal board rejects $800-$900 million buyout offer from Flipkart – The Economic Times
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