CHENNAI:India’s second largest home-grown e-commerce player, Snapdeal, might be finally headed for sale. According to informed sources Express spoke to, the major differences among the three largest stakeholders of the firm – SoftBank Group Corp., Kalaari Capital and Nexus Venture Partners – over the valuation at which funds should be raised were worked out during a meeting on Tuesday.
SoftBank, Kalaari and Nexus Venture own 33 per cent, 10 per cent and eight per cent, respectively, of Snapdeal.“The issues have been worked out during the meeting,” said a person with knowledge of the talks, pointing out that while further meetings on the sale itself are set to continue, the major issues have been sorted out.Earlier this week, Snapdeal’s route to raise more funds through a controlling stake sale was mooted by SoftBank. However, the proposal fell through because Kalaari and Nexus disagreed with SoftBank on the valuation.
During Tuesday’s meeting, said another source, SoftBank had shown interest in acquiring a part of the stake owned by the other two venture capital firms.
Both Kalaari and Nexus are reported to be demanding $100 million for their stakes in the firm – the former has put in around $27.5 million and the latter more than $40 million in Snapdeal.
Meanwhile, founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, who hold 6.5 per cent together, are demanding an equivalent sum for their stakes, too. According to the source, SoftBank is negotiating on the price.
The rapprochement between the major stakeholders once again opens up Snapdeal’s route to more funds.