Popular e-retailer Flipkart Ltd is negotiating the sale of a stake in the company to Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd (BCCL), reports Mint. Quoting insiders, the report says that the shares valued at Rs 500 crore will be issued in exchange for part funding in cash and partly for advertising in various media outlets run by BCCL.
The report quotes one insider as saying, “the talks are progressing slower than what both companies want but a deal is likely to happen”.
At its currently presumed valuation of $15 billion, the report adds, this would mean that Flipkart is selling a 0.5% stake in the company.
VCCircle says that these negotiations are in line with other ad-for-equity deals between BCCL’s investment arm Brand Capital and Indian internet startups. This is the third such venture by Brand Capital, with a previous deal with Snapdeal and final negotiations underway with online classifieds forums Quickr.
VCCircle also states that BCCL has backed other internet concerns such as Infibeam, LocalBanya, Tazisabzi and others.
BCCL also has investments in other startups including taxi aggregator Uber, service provider Haptik, online learning startup Coursera, and owns the real estate website Magicbricks.com and music provider Gaana.