According to a filing with the National Stock Exchange, the Zomato board of directors will meet on June 24 and probably approve the acquisition of Blinkit, a startup focused on quick commerce. Blinkit was not mentioned in the filing, though.
According to Regulation 29 of the Listing Regulations, as amended, Zomato Limited (“the Company”) has scheduled a board meeting for Friday, June 24, 2022, to discuss a potential acquisition transaction. The payment for the transaction may be made in the form of equity shares of the company through a preferential issue, the food delivery giant said in the filing.
According to an earlier report from ET, Zomato will pay for Blinkit, formerly known as Grofers, in shares.
Zomato acquired a 10% stake in the Gurugram-based quick commerce startup last year after investing $100 million in it.
The deal was anticipated to value Blinkit at somewhere between $700 and $800 million, according to a March 15 report from ET based on Zomato’s market capitalization at the time. That was less than Blinkit’s previous estimated value, which was slightly more than $1 billion.
Zomato will probably exchange one share for every ten Blinkit shares, according to a previous report by ET. The possibility of a merger has been discussed since Zomato first invested in Blinkit last year.
Zomato previously declared that it had provided Blinkit with a loan worth up to $150 million. Deepinder Goyal, the founder of Zomato, claimed that a portion of the funds had been delivered to Blinkit during its first investor call since going public last month, and that the remaining funds would be released based on whether the company needed them or not.
