Chinese technology conglomerate Tencent has bought a stake worth USD 264 million (approx. 2,060 crore) in Flipkart from its co-founder Binny Bansal through its European subsidiary, according to official documents.
Singapore headquartered e-commerce firm Flipkart Operating in India only.
Bansal holds around 1.84 per cent stake in Flipkart after selling his stake to Tencent Cloud Europe BV.
The transaction was completed on October 26, 2021 and was shared with government officials at the beginning of the current financial year.
Following the transaction, Tencent owns a 0.72 percent stake in Flipkart, which is valued at around USD 264 million, according to a final valuation of USD 37.6 billion reported by the e-commerce firm in July 2021.
The company’s valuation rises to USD 37.6 billion after raising USD 3.6 billion (approx.) 26,805.6 crore) in a funding round led by Singapore-based sovereign wealth fund GIC, CPP Investments, SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Walmart.
DisruptAD, Qatar Investment Authority, Khazana National Berhad as well as marquee investors Tencent, Willoughby Capital, Antara Capital, Franklin Templeton and Tiger Global also participated in the funding round.
The transaction between Bansal and Tencent took place after the July funding round.
Sources said the transaction took place in Singapore, but Flipkart informed the Indian authorities about it as a responsible entity and that the transaction does not fall under the purview of ‘Press Note 3’, which would be allowed to any Indian company. Calls for a check on investments from countries sharing land borders. with India.
While there are many companies operating in India in which Tencent has invested, the government has banned some gaming apps including PUBG Mobile, PUBG Mobile Lite which were published by Tencent Group. E-mail queries sent to Flipkart and Bansal did not elicit any response.