Bengaluru : Flipkart has made key changes to its board of directors even as the Walmart Inc-owned e-commerce company prepares for an initial public offering (IPO) and days after its digital payments company PhonePe was spun off as a separate entity.
Flipkart Group CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy will join the board alongside Keki Mistry, Vice President and CEO of HDFC, and two new Walmart directors: Global Chief Technology Officer and Chief Development Officer Suresh Kumar and Leigh Hopkins, executive vice president of strategy. and development for Walmart International.
In an email this week, Krishnamurthy informed employees of the changes, which also include current board members Steuart Walton, Dirk Van den Berghe, executive vice president of Walmart Asia, Makemytrip co-founder Rajesh Magow and Rohit Bhagat who left board. While Berghe retires at the end of March, the other three retire. Bhagat has joined the PhonePe board as its chairman and Magow will take on an advisory role.
“… I also wanted to let you know that this new year will see some changes to our board, as several of our current directors will step down after guiding us through the first two years after Walmart’s investment,” Krishnamurthy said in his email. electronic. Mint has reviewed a copy of the email.
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In 2018, Walmart Inc. had acquired a majority stake in Flipkart for $ 16 billion, valuing Flipkart at $ 21 billion. Doug McMillion, Walmart’s president and CEO, had said it could go public with Flipkart as soon as four years after the acquisition closed.
Steuart Walton, grandson of Walmart founder Sam Walton, joined the board following the Walmart investment.
“… Steuart has combined his duties at Flipkart, with those of being a Director of Walmart, and is retiring from the Flipkart board in order to focus more on these, including his role as Chairman of the Walmart Board Technology Committee, which will mean that you will remain an active Flipkart sponsor, “said Krishnamurthy.
Other existing members on Flipkart’s board are co-founder Binny Bansal, who has also joined the PhonePe board, which has co-founders Sameer Nigam, Rahul Chari and Rohit Bhagat.
Bentonville, Arkansas-based Walmart hired Goldman Sachs to explore an initial sale of shares of its Flipkart in the US to raise about $ 10 billion and plans to sell about 25% in the most online retailer. India’s largest, Mint reported earlier this month.
The proposed public listing could happen next year thanks to the rapid digital transformation in the country that has been further accelerated by the pandemic, Mint reported in September.
In July, Walmart led a $ 1.2 billion investment in Flipkart Group, valuing the company at around $ 25 billion, in its largest fundraiser since its acquisition in 2018.
Walmart now owns an 82.3% stake in Flipkart, with US hedge fund Tiger Management, China’s Tencent, Accel Partners and Microsoft Corp., among other key investors. The IPO will offer minority investors the opportunity to sell or reduce their stakes.
“While the board restructuring has no immediate connection to the planned IPO, it is a good time to build a new board well in advance of listing occurs,” said a person familiar with the development.
The pandemic has pushed millions of new small-town customers to move to online platforms, boosting sales for e-commerce companies.
Bengaluru-based Flipkart is competing with Amazon India and Reliance Industries Ltd, which is scaling up its JioMart e-commerce business to challenge rivals in the e-commerce space.
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