Snapdeal is looking forward to buy online mobile recharge platform Freecharge, according to a report from The Economic Times. The deal is expected to be sealed at Rs 2,800 Cr ($450M).
One of the sources told the publication that the two companies have signed off on the deal which will be a combination of about 40% cash and the (balance) in stock. Snapdeal competes with Flipkart and Amazon and the acquisition will give Snapdeal a much needed push. If this is a done deal it will the largest in Indian e-commerce and internet market. Flipkart acquired Myntra for more than $300 million last year in May. Founded in 2010, Freecharge raised $80 million in funding last month while it acquired offline app store Preburn for an undisclosed sum.
In October last year, Snapdeal secured a funding on $627 million from SoftBank. Earlier this week, a Reuters report stated that Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is in talks with Indian online marketplace Snapdeal over a potential cash investment. A recent report from eMarketer revealed last month that eCommerce sales in India are expected to grow by 45 per cent to $7.69 billion in 2015.