File photo: The logo of India's e-commerce firm Flipkart is seen on the company's office in Bengaluru, India April 12, 2018. REUTERS/Abhishek N. Chinnappa/File Photo
Walmart Inc. has agreed to buy control of Flipkart Online Services Pvt, according to SoftBank Group Corp. Chief Executive Officer Masayoshi Son, a major shareholder in the Indian e-commerce company.
The Japanese company, through its Vision Fund, invested $2.5 billion in Flipkart and that stake will be worth about $4 billion in the deal, Son told a briefing on Wednesday. He didn’t elaborate on other terms of the Walmart takeover. The deal values Flipkart at about $20 billion, people familiar with the matter have said previously.
An announcement is expected later on Wednesday.
Flipkart, India’s biggest online retailer, is a key part of Walmart’s efforts to expand in the country and strike a blow against Amazon.com Inc. in the world’s second-most populous nation.
The deal -- expected to be among Walmart’s biggest ever -- gives it greater access to an Indian e-commerce market that Morgan Stanley has estimated will grow to $200 billion in about a decade.
Flipkart, meanwhile, gets additional capital and expertise to battle Amazon, which has spent billions of dollars to gain customers in India. Online sales in the world’s second most-populous nation are growing about 35 percent a year, according to data tracker Euromonitor, fueled by a rising middle class and urbanization that present an attractive environment for e-commerce.
Acquiring a stake in Flipkart enables Walmart to tap into the nation’s retail market without building stores. Walmart once envisioned operating hundreds of locations across India but it has been unable to open traditional units because of long-standing governmental concerns over so-called multibrand international retailers.
Walmart entered India in 2009 through a joint venture with Bharti Enterprises, and took full control of that enterprise in 2013. It currently operates 20 wholesale clubs in India that serve small businesses.
