Japanese multinational telecommunications corporation SoftBank plans to invest in Paytm, India-based e-payments and e-commerce brand.
SoftBank is one of Alibaba’s long-time investors, and has been trying to strike a deal to sell out SnapDeal over a period of last three months. The firm is in talks with Tiger Global to successfully merge SnapDeal with Flipkart. Tiger Global is a lead investor in Flipkart.
However, SoftBank is also trying to strike a deal with Paytm. There is a possibility for SoftBank to invest close to US1$bn in Paytm, according to Business Standards news report. Sources close to the development state the transaction could take place either way: SnapDeal’s merge with Flipkart or Paytm.
A source on condition of anonymity said, “If SoftBank manages to close the deal with Alibaba, it would get a stake in the country’s largest wallet.”
Industry experts believe the merge of Snapdeal with Paytm is more of a fruitful opportunity because they share a common investor. “They both have a marketplace, a mobile wallet as well as Alibaba as a common investor. For SoftBank, it makes more sense to deal with the Chinese tech major in which it has considerable stake.’’