Flipkart sweetens Snapdeal buyout offer to up to $950 million, closer to asking price

Mumbai: Indian e-commerce player Flipkart has sweetened its buyout offer for smaller rival Snapdeal to between $900 million and $950 million, two people familiar with the negotiations said, adding that the new proposal is being evaluated by the company’s board. The new offer almost matches the initial asking price of US $1 billion for acquisition of the beleaguered e-commerce marketplace, sources privy to the development said, PTI had said earlier. Reuters previously reported that Snapdeal had earlier this month rejected Flipkart’s initial bid of between $800 million and $850 million (around Rs 5,500 crore), as its board was unsatisfied with the offer and the payment terms. The sources, who asked not to be named as the discussions are not public, said talks between the two sides are ongoing. Flipkart, Snapdeal and its main backers were not immediately reachable for comment. [caption id=“attachment_3014990” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Binny Bansal (left) and Sachin Bansal, co-founders, Flipkart[/caption] SoftBank, Snapdeal’s largest investor, has been proactively mediating the sale for the past few months, a PTI report said earlier The board of Snapdeal also has representation from its founders (Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal), Nexus Venture Partners and Kalaari Capital. Snapdeal is also engaged in separate discussions for selling Freecharge (mobile wallet operations)  and Vulcan Express (logistics arm) The deal between Snapdeal and Flipkart, if completed, would mark the biggest acquisition in the Indian e-commerce space. One of the leading contenders in the Indian e-tailing segment, Snapdeal has seen its fortunes failing amid strong competition from Amazon and Flipkart. Snapdeal’s valuations have also plummeted from about US $6.5 billion in February 2016. SoftBank has already written off over US $1 billion on valuation of its investment in Snapdeal. (With inputs from agencies)