• Flipkart gets another markdown with Vanguard slashing its value by 25%

    A Vanguard-managed mutual fund has marked down the value of its shares in Flipkart by 25%, the fund has disclosed last month.

    Vanguard has marked the value of their Flipkart shares at $102.6 as of March 2016, down from $136.87 as of December 2015. The markdown pegs Flipkart’s valuation at $11.4 billion, as compared to the $15.2 billion when it last raised capital in July 2015.

    It’s worth noting that Vanguard currently owns very small amounts of Flipkart stock with its holdings currently worth less than $6 million.

    This however follows a series of markdowns from larger investors Morgan Stanley and T Rowe Price. Morgan Stanley had marked down its holdings by 15.5% in May, after marking it down by 27% in February this year.

    Two of Flipkart’s mutual fund investors Fidelity and Valic had further marked down the value of their holdings in the company by 20% in May this year while a T Rowe Price-managed mutual fund had marked down its holdings by 15% in April.

    Flipkart’s other key shareholders include New York-based investment firm Tiger Global, South African media giant Naspers, Singapore sovereign wealth GIC, Russian billionaire Yuri Milner’s DST Global and early stage investment firm Accel.

    Flipkart co-founder and CEO Binny Bansal had earlier told ET in an interview that these markdowns are “mostly a theoretical exercise by small investors”.

    “From our perspective, valuation is when we raise money. When we raise money, our value will be clear in the market” Bansal added.

    This might however put Flipkart on the back foot in its ongoing fundraising negotiations with investors and might not be able to raise funds at its preferred valuations.

    Flipkart has been looking to shore up a new round of funding since late 2015 to maintain its leadership position in India against rival Amazon, ET had previously reported. That being said chairman Sachin Bansal recently told reporters that they are not looking at raising fresh funds.

    Rival Amazon is however ramping up its Indian operations, with founder Jeff Bezos recently committing an additional $3 billion investment to its India unit, taking the total commitment to $5 billion. Joseph Noteboom Womens Jersey

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