Reports of Walmart backed Flipkart going public have been circulating the internet for quite some time, and now, we might have some insight into the ordeal. The firm may be looking to go public overseas and use the SPAC route for a U.S. listing, according to a report by Bloomberg.
According to the report, Flipkart is seeking an IPO in the United States of America, and has contacted several shell companies for a listing as early as the last quarter of 2021. The company may seek a valuation of at least $35 billion in a blank-check transaction, according to people familiar with the matter. However, both Flipkart and Walmart have not answered to requests for a comment, so nothing is set in stone as of yet.
The report claims that Flipkart is exploring other options as well, and the talks are still at an early stage.
Flipkart would not be the first Indian firm to explore an initial public offering in the U.S. through a SPAC deal. Only last week ReNew Power, which is India’s largest solar and wind energy producer merged with a SPAC for a public listing on NASDAQ, at a $8 billion valuation.
SPACs are shell companies, that have no commercial operation of their own. They are formed only to raise revenue through IPOs for acquiring a private company. While they have been around for decades now, the real momentum in the market came last year, when multiple companies took the SPAC route for an IPO. The route allows organizations to bypass the massive amount of paperwork associated with a listing, and thus, ease the entire process. SPACs have brought around $84 billion revenue through IPOs in the U.S in the past year itself.
Thus, it is no surprise that Flipkart, a company that is indigenous to India (even though it is majorly owned by Walmart) would choose this route for an overseas listing.
Flipkart has been gaining popularity for some time now, and competes in India with Amazon, Reliance Fresh and others.
