Tencent buys USD 264 million stake in Flipkart from Binny Bansal
Highlight
- Bansal holds around 1.84 per cent stake in Flipkart after selling his stake to Tencent
- The transaction was completed on October 26, 2021
- It was shared with government officials at the beginning of the current financial year
According to official documents, Chinese technology conglomerate Tencent has bought a stake in Flipkart from its co-founder Binny Bansal for USD 264 million (about Rs 2,060 crore) through its European subsidiary.
Singapore-headquartered e-commerce firm Flipkart operates only in India.
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, the Tencent branch will hold a 0.72 per cent stake in Flipkart, which is valued at around USD 264 million, as disclosed by the e-commerce firm in July 2021 at a final valuation of USD 37.6 billion.
The company’s valuation rose to US$37.6 billion after raising US$3.6 billion (about Rs 26,805.6 crore) in a funding round led by Singapore’s 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 the transaction does not come under the purview of ‘Press Note 3’, which allows any Indian company to share land. Calls for scrutiny of investments received from countries with border 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.
An e-mail query sent to Flipkart and Bansal did not elicit any response.