CCI approves Flipkart-eBay merger

By

Maverick Martins

Published
Jun 16, 2017

India's top e-commerce firm Flipkart has got the approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for the proposed acquisition of eBay India. CCI has also given nod to eBay Singapore's subscription of compulsorily convertible preference shares (CCPS) issued by Flipkart.

EBay had invested $500 million in Flipkart for a stake in the company in April. In exchange, eBay had said that it will merge its India operations with Flipkart.

Flipkart in a statement earlier had said that eBay.in will continue to operate as a "separate business" within the Flipkart group, which includes fashion portals Myntra and Jabong.

In a tweet, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) said that it has approved "subscription by eBay Singapore of CCPS issued by Flipkart and acquisition of eBay India by Flipkart".
 
As per the notice submitted to the regulator, the transaction relates to the acquisition of 100 per cent share capital of eBay India by Bangalore based e-commerce firm Flipkart.
 
The transaction also involves the acquisition of certain compulsorily convertible preference shares of Flipkart by eBay Singapore, as per the notice.
 
With eBay in the bag, Flipkart is currently in hot pursuit of another homegrown e-commerce player – Snapdeal to strengthen its position in a battle against global giant Amazon and Alibaba backed Paytm e-commerce in the country's burgeoning online retail market.