China’s technology conglomerate Tencent has purchased a $264 million (approximately Rs 2,060 crore) stake in Flipkart from its co-founder Binny Bansal via its European subsidiary. Flipkart, headquartered in Singapore, operates solely in India. Bansal now owns approximately 1.84 percent of Flipkart after selling a portion of his stake to Tencent Cloud Europe BV.
The transaction was completed on October 26, 2021. Also, it was shared with government officials at the start of the current fiscal year. Following the transaction, Tencent’s arm owns 0.72 percent of Flipkart, which is worth around $264 million based on the e-commerce firm’s most recent valuation of $37.6 billion disclosed in July 2021.
Tencent’s 0.72% of Flipkart
The company’s valuation increased to $37.6 billion. Moreover, following a $3.6 billion (approximately Rs 26,805.6 crore) funding round. Which was led by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, CPP Investments, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and Walmart.
The funding round was also attended by DisruptAD, Qatar Investment Authority, Khazanah Nasional Berhad, and marquee investors Tencent, Willoughby Capital, Antara Capital, Franklin Templeton, and Tiger Global. Bansal and Tencent completed their transaction following the July funding round.
According to sources, the transaction took place in Singapore. But Flipkart informed Indian authorities about it. As a responsible entity, and the transaction does not fall under the purview of ‘Press Note 3’. Which calls for scrutiny of any investment received by any Indian company from countries sharing land borders with India.
While Tencent has invested in several companies in India, the government has banned some gaming apps, including PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite, which were published by Tencent Group. An email sent to Flipkart and Bansal received no response.
