Flipkart yet to finalise stake sale deal with Walmart: sources

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Indian e-commerce firm Flipkart's board is yet to finalise a deal to sell a stake to Walmart Inc, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said on Friday, with one of them saying a deal could just be days away.

Bloomberg, earlier on Friday, citing unnamed sources said Flipkart's board had approved a deal to sell a stake of about 75 percent in the company to a group led by U.S. retail giant Walmart for about $15 billion.

Walmart is in advanced talks with Flipkart to acquire a controlling stake of more than 51 percent in the Bengaluru-based online marketplace at a valuation of at least $18 billion, Reuters has previously reported.

 

A third source told Reuters that while Flipkart's board has "in-principle" approved engaging with Walmart based on the terms of an offer before them, taxation related concerns and a few other issues need to be resolved.

Sources have said that Amazon.com Inc is also interested in buying Flipkart, India's top homegrown e-commerce firm, but a deal with Walmart is much more likely to go through. Amazon is Flipkart's biggest rival in India.

(Reporting by Sankalp Phartiyal; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)