Chinese internet giant Alibaba is leading an investment round of between Rs 1,350 crore and Rs 1,700 crore in the newly-started online retail marketplace of Paytm.
According to a Times of India report, the regulatory filings sourced from business research platform Tofler revealed that the Jack Ma-led company will hold almost 40 per cent in Paytm e-commerce.
The shareholding is through Alibaba.com Singapore and AliPay Singapore, while venture fund SAIF Partners and Paytm's founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma will own 30 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively.
The filings showed that Alibaba.com Singapore and AliPay Singapore have picked up 3,89,955 shares in Paytm E-commerce at Rs 10 per share.
“India is an important emerging market with great potential and we are absolutely committed to developing it for the long term...While we are excited about addressing the market opportunity in India, we are not in a position to share any forward looking information with you at this moment,” an Alibaba spokesperson was quoted by Times of India as saying.
According to the report, Paytm’s online marketplace is also close to raising fresh funds of about $200 million (approx Rs 13,500 crore) and has held talks with external investors like Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) at an asking valuation of $1 billion (approx Rs 6,700 crore).
Alibaba Group and its affiliate Ant Financial pumped in $680 million (approx Rs 4,600 crore) into Paytm's parent One97 Communications last year, taking its total shareholding to over 40 percent in the country's largest mobile wallet operator with close to 160 million customers.
