Tiger Fund increases equity stake in Flipkart

Bengaluru: The US-based hedge fund, Tiger Fund, increased its equity holding in India's leading etailer Flipkart by buying 54,596 shares of its co-founder Binny Bansal for an estimated $14.5 million (Rs 104 crore), business intelligence platform Paper.vc said on Monday.

"Regulatory filings by Flipkart indicate that Binny sold a tranche of shares for the third time since the global retail giant Walmart's takeover of the e-commerce company in May 2018," Chennai-based Paper.vc told IANS in a statement.

The $514-billion Walmart acquired majority stake (77 percent) in the city-based Flipkart on May 9, 2018 for a whopping $16 billion (Rs 107,662 crore) at $67.3 per share.

"Bansal sold 47,759 equity shares to existing shareholder Internet Fund III Pte Ltd and 54,596 shares to incoming shareholder Tiger Global Eight Holdings," said the statement.

Paper.vc has evaluated the sale based on Walmart's acquisition price for majority stake in May 2018.

"If we incorporate a modest increase in Flipkart's valuation because of the growth of its subsidiary PhonePe, the number could go up to $25 million (Rs 180 crore)," said Paper.vc.

On June 24, Binny Bansal monetised 54 lakh equity shares for $76.4 million (Rs 531 crore) via a sale to FIT Holdings SARL, Walmart's Luxembourg entity.

Though the other co-founder, Sachin Bansal, exited Flipkart when Walmart acquired it, Binny Bansal stayed on to lead its management team.

Binny Bansal, however, resigned on November 13, 2018 after an investigation by Walmart into allegations of personal misconduct (sexual harassment) on his part.

Prior to June, Bansal sold 11,22,433 of his shares to unspecified investors for $159 million (Rs 114 crore).

"Our estimates may vary from the authoritative numbers maintained by Walmart/Flipkart," added the statement.