India's Flipkart denies media report of Accel selling US$100m stake

[MUMBAI] Flipkart on Monday denied a newspaper report that said venture capital firm Accel Partners had sold a small stake in India's biggest online marketplace to sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) for US$100 million.

"This information is incorrect. There has been no such transaction," a Flipkart spokesman told Reuters in an emailed statement.

The Economic Times newspaper earlier on Monday reported the deal, citing two people aware of the transaction, and said the deal valued the Indian online retailer at US$15 billion.

Accel, the first venture investor in Flipkart, remains the second-largest shareholder after New York-based hedge fund Tiger Global Management following the deal, the Economic Times reported.

Accel and Qatar Investment Authority did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

"From time to time, Accel Partners, globally, has sold a small fraction of our holdings in some of our portfolio companies, as secondary transactions...All we can confirm to you right now is that no such transaction is in process," Subrata Mitra, partner at Accel Partners in India told the newspaper in an emailed reply.

REUTERS