Acquisitive Japanese telco Softbank’s talks to invest in Indian mobile commerce platform Paytm have reportedly stalled over valuation issues.
Softbank’s US$300m offer for a minority stake in Paytm, which claims to have over 20 million registered…
Acquisitive Japanese telco Softbank’s talks to invest in Indian mobile commerce platform Paytm have reportedly stalled over valuation issues.
Softbank’s US$300m offer for a minority stake in Paytm, which claims to have over 20 million registered users, was lower than the target’s expectations, the Economic Times cited sources as saying.
Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of Paytm owner One97 Communications, was quoted as saying talks with Softbank are ongoing and that no final decision has been taken.
He added that Paytm has generated “a lot” of interest from other potential investors, including pure financial players.
According to earlier reports, Paytm is also in talks with Google Capital.
Paytm has reportedly asked for proposals before 3 November and may take a decision on valuation next month.
The company reportedly mandated Citi and Goldman Sachs earlier this month to raise up to US$200m from the sale of a minority stake in the company.
One97 investors include private equity firm SAIF Partners, Intel Capital and Sapphire Ventures.
Yesterday, Softbank announced it had agreed to invest more than US$800m in Indian e-commerce firm Snapdeal and mobile taxi booking company ANI Technologies.
Its CEO, Masayoshi Son, said in an interview with CNBC in India that the company plans to invest about US$10bn in the Indian e-commerce sector over the next decade.
