New Delhi: After six months of hard negotiations, the proposed acquisition of the beleaguered Snapdeal by the larger rival Flipkart, has finally been called off, with Snapdeal saying they would like to 'pursue an independent path'.
The founders, Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, and the company shareholders were at odds on the terms of the acquisition deal with the former aggressively pushing for continuing operations as an independent entity.
Even as Snapdeal stayed zipped on the state of the deal till the last moment, a softbank spokesperson had expected "a board resolution by the end of the day".
SoftBank, Snapdeal's largest investor, was proactively mediating the talks for sale through the past few months. The deal with Flipkart for USD 900-950 million, had it gone through, would have marked the largest acquisition in the Indian e-commerce landscape.
Hopes for a turnaround emerged as Snapdeal sold its digital payment platform, FreeCharge, to Axis Bank for Rs 385 crore.
If sources are to be believed, the market could see the launch of a leaner version, Snapdeal 2.0, with a reduced workforce and scaled down operations.
Interestingly, in an e-mail to employees last week, Bahl had termed the Freecharge sale as a "great outcome" and said it would give Snapdeal the "necessary boost in resources" to continue its e-commerce journey.
The company is also meeting potential buyers of its logistics arm, Vulcan Express.
The proceeds from the Freecharge sale and Vulcan, when it comes in, could buy Snapdeal some months to continue independently, sources added.
One of the leading contenders in the Indian e-commerce space, Snapdeal has seen its fortunes falling amid strong competition from Amazon and Flipkart.
Compared to a valuation of about USD 6.5 billion in February 2016, the sale to Flipkart pegged the value of Snapdeal at about USD 1 billion.
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