Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal has sold his shares worth over $76 million (about Rs 530 crore) in the Indian e-commerce major to US retail giant Walmart.
Bansal transferred more than Rs 5.39 lakh of his Flipkart shares to Walmart’s Luxembourg-based entity — FIT Holdings SARL, according to business intelligence platform Paper.vc.
“Our data, derived from Flipkart’s filings, indicate that with this transfer, Binny Bansal has monetised a small portion of his shareholding for what appears to be a cash consideration of USD 76.4 million,” it added. The current sale is estimated to have reduced Bansal’s holding from 3.85 per cent to 3.52 per cent.
Walmart Inc, in May last year, had announced that it is buying 77 per cent stake in Flipkart for about USD 16 billion (Rs 1.05 lakh crore), its biggest deal that gave the US retailer access to Indian e-commerce market that is estimated to grow to USD 200 billion within a decade. Reaction from Binny Bansal could not be ascertained.
Binny, who had co-founded Flipkart with Sachin Bansal (not related) in 2007, had sold a small portion of his minority holding during the Walmart deal.
According to Paper.vc, Binny Bansal had sold shares for about USD 159 million during the Walmart takeover. Sachin Bansal had sold his entire stake. After the deal, Binny Bansal continued to lead Flipkart as Group CEO and co-founder till November last year, when he resigned following a probe into an alleged “serious personal misconduct”.
Binny had strongly denied the allegation and the independent investigation done on behalf of Flipkart and Walmart “did not find evidence to corroborate the complainant’s assertions against Binny”.