Walmart is reportedly getting ready to float a $10 billion (~ Rs 73,000 crores) Flipkart IPO in the US. Walmart has hired Goldman Sachs to carry out the works for the IPO, which could value Flipkart at $40 billion (~Rs 2,92,000 crores). This would make it the largest IPO by any Indian company on an overseas exchange.
Walmart plans to sell a stake of 25% in Flipkart. They now own an 82.3% stake in Flipkart, with US-based hedge fund Tiger Management, China’s Tencent, Accel Partners, and Microsoft Corp, among the other key investors.
Earlier in July this year, Flipkart had raised $1.2 billion (~Rs 125 crores) in a fresh round of funding, valuing the company at $24.9 billion (~Rs 1,82,500 crores). Flipkart has also made investments in Virat Kohli’s Wrogn, Aditya Birla Fashion Retail, and Arvind Fashions.
Walmart’s plan to take Flipkart public could have been helped by the recent surge in e-commerce sales during COVID-19 lockdowns. Flipkart witnessed a ten-fold increase in its shipments during its festival sale this year.
Flipkart has also increased its availability in new pin codes and improved the supply chain logistics to boost up the sales. They are also offering many payment discounts through PhonePe which is a subsidiary of Flipkart.