Tata Group Likely to Buy 80% in BigBasket; To Announce Deal in Next Few Weeks

Tata Group is in advanced talks to buy nearly 80 percent in BigBasket for some $1.3 billion. This deal will value BigBasket at around $1.6 billion, as per people familiar with the deal said.

It took nearly five months for the two companies to agree on the deal structure. According to the proposal, the Tata Group is likely to buy 50-60 percent from existing investors, which includes Alibaba – the Chinese investor – along with few other key investors, as per the reports in Mint.

One of the persons said that the Tata Group will infuse fresh money into BigBasket by buying new shares of about 20-30 percent, which will give the group nearly 80 percent in BigBasket. The deal is likely to be announced in the next few weeks.

This could be a strong move to counter its rivals Jio and Amazon, who are emerging giants in the e-Commerce sphere. Jio plans to shake-up the e-Commerce industry just like it did in the telecom space.

As per the report, another person said that the main objective of the Tata Group is to win a large market share in one shot, and BigBasket will be a big bet. The deal will help Tata Group in conceptualizing its proposed Super App by adding a wide range of household items and grocery products from India’s largest online grocery store.