Flipkart revises offer to buy Snapdeal
Flipkart has made a second bid for troubled online marketplace Snapdeal — estimated at about $850 million — two weeks after its initial offer was rejected. The revised bid, which is believed to have been cleared by Flipkart’s board during the weekend, was formally communicated to the Jasper Infotech board late on Monday, according to two sources briefed on the matter. The revised bid comes after the Jasper Infotech board rejected Bengaluru-headquartered Flipkart’s initial offer of $500-$600 million made earlier this month. The bid of $850 million is believed to be for online marketplace Snapdeal, logistics business Vulcan Express and online order management business Unicommerce eSolutions. Flipkart’s revised bid also comes about two days after Infibeam Incorporation, the country's only listed ecommerce company, denied that it had reached out to the Jasper Infotech board for a potential merger between the companies. Ahmedabad-based Infibeam’s all-stock bid, according to two people aware of developments, was estimated to be about $1 billion (Rs 6,652.75 crore). In a statement to the stock exchanges on Friday, Infibeam called
reports of its bid for Snapdeal as "purely speculative." An offer from the BSE-listed Infibeam has the potential to give liquidity to all the stockholders of Snapdeal, a list that includes Japanese investor SoftBank, venture capital firms Kalaari Capital and Nexus Venture Partners and Chinese ecommerce behemoth Alibaba Group, among others, according to sources aware of the negotiations. According to the sources that ET spoke to, the Jasper Infotech board will be discussing both offers on the table and is expected to arrive at a decision over the next 24-48 hours.http://goo.gl/fCKqJr