India: Flipkart stares at a dent in valuations ahead of listing
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Flipkart is seen on the company s office in Bengaluru, India, May 9, 2018. REUTERS/Abhishek N. Chinnappa/File photo
March 8, 2021
Walmart Inc.-owned Flipkart is exploring going public in the US through a merger with a blank-cheque company, according to a Bloomberg report. Flipkart’s advisers have approached several special-purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, with a view to quickening its listing process. The valuation being sought is at least $35 billion, the report added.
News reports just six months ago had said Flipkart is eyeing an IPO (initial public offering) at a valuation of $45-50 billion. Of course, there is no official word about these valuation numbers but, as it turns out, tech stocks have indeed corrected in the past month.
JAKARTA - Indonesia s financial watchdog is set to outline by the middle of this year how digital banks should operate in the country, one of its top officials disclosed in an interview with The Straits Times. We won t regulate details, or it won t be rule-based. It will instead be a set of guiding principles for banks to operate digitally, that banks have to mitigate their own risk, any risk that may arise, said Anung Herlianto, OJK s executive director of banking research and regulation.
Digital banking is expected to provide a boost to Southeast Asia s largest economy as it will cater to the unbanked who comprise up to one third of the population of 270 million. But smartphone penetration in the country has reached 70 to 80 per cent.
WITH Singapore having just approved four digital bank licences to non-bank players, the focus turns to Malaysia as the country is anticipated to be the next in the region to hand out such licences.
Bank Negara Malaysia is widely expected to invite applications for the licences early next year, once it has issued the licensing framework for digital banks.
“It [the framework] is imminent. Bank Negara has been busy dealing with Covid-19 issues in the industry, so what we understand is, if it’s not out by year-end, then it will be out early next year,” says an industry source.