Flipkart Sells Equity Stake to Walmart Inc

MUMBAI (Reuters) – Indian e-commerce firm Flipkart’s board has approved a deal to sell an equity stake of about 75 percent in the company to a group led by Walmart Inc for about $15 billion, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing unnamed sources.

SoftBank will sell its 20-plus percent stake as part of the deal, Bloomberg said, adding Google’s parent Alphabet Inc & was likely to participate in the investment with Walmart.

A final close of the deal is expected within 10 days, although deal terms could still change and a deal isn’t certain, Bloomberg reported.

Flipkart and Alphabet did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Walmart and SoftBank declined to comment.

Earlier this week, Indian TV channel CNBC-TV18 reported that Amazon.com Inc has made a formal offer to buy 60 percent of Flipkart. Amazon, which is Flipkart’s biggest rival in India, declined to comment on that report.

(Reporting by Sankalp Phartiyal; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)