(Reuters) -Private equity firms Accel and Tiger Global, two early backers of Indian e-commerce firm Flipkart, are in talks to sell their remaining stake in the company to parent Walmart Inc for about $1.5 billion, the Economic Times reported on Thursday.
The stake, which collectively amounts to about 5%, would raise Walmart’s ownership in the e-commerce giant, the newspaper reported citing people familiar with the matter.
“They (Accel and Tiger) want to sell and exit now fully. The discussions are moving ahead and the transaction will close in due time,” a person familiar with the matter told ET.
Accel owns a little over 1% of Flipkart, while Tiger Global holds about 4% of the company, the report said.
Flipkart, Walmart and Tiger Global did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. Accel could not be immediately reached for a comment.
Walmart acquired a majority stake in Flipkart for about $16 billion in 2018 – its biggest deal ever – and later that year said it could take the company public in four years.
In April last year, Reuters reported that Flipkart had internally raised its IPO valuation target by around a third to $60 billion-$70 billion, and plans a U.S. listing in 2023.
(Reporting by Jyoti Narayan in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
