AZB & Partners has advised SoftBank’s Vision Fund on its nearly $2.5 billion investment in Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart, which turned to Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian and Khaitan & Co for counsel.
This is said to be the biggest-ever private investment in an Indian technology company.
According to Reuters, SoftBank’s investment is part of the same financing round where Flipkart had raised $1.4 billion capital from tech majors Tencent, eBay and Microsoft.
After this funding round, Flipkart will have in excess of $4 billion of cash on its balance sheet. Recently, it acquired eBay’s Indian arm, further adding to its list of brands like Myntra, Jabong, PhonePe, and Ekart.
The deal comes shortly after SoftBank attempted to close a deal between Flipkart and smaller rival Snapdeal – and foil Amazon's plans in India – broke down after months of negotiations, reported Reuters.
SoftBank is the largest investor in two leading Indian e-commerce companies: cab-hailing service Ola and hotel aggregator Oyo. The Japanese company is keen to play a more active role in this sector, which is expected to drive sales in the country to upwards of $35 billion by 2020.
Partners Ajay Bahl and Vinati Kastia handled the transaction for AZB. The Khaitan team was led by partner Ganesh Prasad.
