International law firm Hogan Lovells has advised Flipkart Private Limited (Flipkart) on its US$700 million fundraising for PhonePe. The Singapore-led team acted as the main transaction counsel on the deal, which saw a post money valuation of US$5.5 billion from Flipkart’s existing shareholders, Walmart.
PhonePe is currently wholly-owned by Flipkart and upon completion of the fundraising, Flipkart will remain PhonePe’s majority shareholder with key strategic involvement from some of Flipkart’s existing shareholders.
The Flipkart Group is one of India’s leading digital commerce entities and includes group companies Flipkart, Myntra, and PhonePe. Flipkart enables millions of consumers, sellers, merchants, and small businesses to be a part of India’s e-commerce revolution, with a registered customer base of over 250 million, offering over 150 million products across 80+ categories. PhonePe which turns five this December has crossed the 250 million registered user milestone, with over 100 million monthly active users (MAU) generating nearly one billion digital payment transactions in October 2020.
The team was led by Singapore partner and Head of Corporate & Finance Asia-Pacific, Stephanie Keen, with support from Ally Smith (Senior Associate, Singapore), Mark Vincent (Associate, Singapore) and Maree Casey (Associate, Perth).
Commenting on the transaction, Keen said: ‘We continue to expand and develop our relationship with Flipkart and PhonePe, having advised Walmart on the 2018 Flipkart acquisition and the recent Flipkart fundraising of US$1.2 billion. We look forward to further opportunities to work with these dynamic and pioneering teams, as they enter the next phase of growth and development in India.’
