According to media quoted people familiar with the matter, Walmart’s Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart may soon IPO in the fourth quarter of this year, and Walmart has also established an internal IPO team for the company, which tends to be listed in the United States. The person concerned did not disclose the scale of funds that may be involved in the listing. According to previous reports, the company plans to raise US$10 billion from the IPO. Bloomberg also stated in the report that the success of the listing may make the company’s valuation reach 35 billion. More than US dollars. Some media have stated in previous reports that if Flipkart’s IPO plan is successful, it will become one of the largest IPOs in India’s history.
After the relevant IPO news was reported, Walmart’s stock price rose slightly during the New York trading session on Tuesday, but then fell back to flat. In order to speed up the listing, the company has been in contact with a number of “special purpose acquisition companies”, but relevant people have stated that they will not consider this listing path now. People familiar with the matter disclosed that JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs are discussing with the company to provide advice on the transaction, and there is a greater chance of becoming an underwriter.
In an interview, Neha Singh, co-founder, and CEO of Tracxn Technologies Pvt.com, a private market intelligence research organization, expressed optimism about Flipkart’s IPO:
Flipkart’s IPO will be a large and exciting public sale, which is also an important milestone in the entrepreneurial ecology of India. As the IPO proceeds, all doubts will be calmed down, and Wal-Mart will complete its task successfully.
Flipkart was founded in 2007. In July 2018, Walmart acquired 77% of the company for US$16 billion. It currently has fashion retailer Myntra and Flipkart Wholesale, an electronic market for small and medium-sized enterprises, involving more than 150 million in more than 80 categories. With more than 300 million registered users, Amazon is recognized as a competitor of the company in India. Some media said that if this IPO is successful, Wal-Mart’s return on investment in Flipkart from 2018 to the present is expected to exceed 100%.
Due to the new crown pandemic, many places around the world have been forced to take measures such as lockdowns, and the e-commerce industry where Flipkart is located has developed and grown. The surge in demand for e-commerce has also caused investors to push the valuation of related companies higher and higher. For example, the South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang, which belongs to Asia, was listed on the New York Stock Exchange on March 11. Although it first climbed and then fell, the issue price still closed up 40.71% on the first day, which also brought the company’s market value to 845. 100 billion U.S. dollars, even more than 100 billion U.S. dollars in the intraday, this Seoul-based company has become the most valuable start-up company in South Korea.