- Amazon is buying a 49% stake in Future Coupons, which is a group entity owned by India’s second-largest retail chain called Future Retail
Amazon is making moves to aggressively expand into India even more by acquiring a 49% stake in Future Coupons. Future Coupons is a group entity that is owned by India’s second-largest retail chain called Future Retail, according to a regulatory filing.
TechCrunch reported that Future Coupons owned warrants would give it a 7.3% stake in Future Retail as of early this year. And this means that this deal would give Amazon a 3.58% stake in Future Retail. The terms of the deal were undisclosed. But if you extrapolate the numbers, Future Retail has a market cap of around $2.9 billion and a 3.58% stake means that Amazon’s investment would be somewhere in the ballpark of $104 million.
Amazon’s 49% stake is “comprised of both voting and non-voting shares. As part of the agreement, Amazon has been granted a call option.” And as part of the agreement, Amazon will have the right of first refusal to buy more stake in Future Retail both directly as well as via entities.
“The Promoters have also agreed to certain share transfer restrictions on their shares in the Company for same tenure, including restrictions to not transfer shares to specified persons, a right of first offer in favor of Amazon, all of which are subject to mutually agreed exceptions (such as liquidity allowances and affiliate transfers),” says the filing.
Future Retail operates more than 1,500 stores — including ones that are branded “Big Bazaar” — across 400 cities in India. Amazon also has an ownership stake in India-based supermarket chain More and the Shopper’s Stop department store chain.
In a recent interview with ET Tech, Amazon India manager Amit Agarwal said that the online retail giant was also optimistic about domestic sales and exports. As of right now, Amazon exports Indian products of more than 50,000 registered sellers through its platform and is hoping to surpass $5 billion in exports in the next 3 years from over $1 billion so far.
Earlier this month, Amazon opened up its largest campus by opening a 9.5-acre facility in Hyderabad, India. This facility is expected to house more than 15,000 employees.
