Paytm to acquire FreeCharge; signs non-exclusive term sheet

India’s leading digital wallet Paytm has acquired rival company FreeCharge, owned by Snapdeal, and has signed a non-exclusive term sheet for the same.

The deal estimated to be worth between $45 and $90 million is expected to be done in cash, and will be completed after Paytm completes its financial and commercial due diligence of FreeCharge starting next week.

Also read: Paytm’s owner to raise over Rs 12,000 crore from SoftBank; single largest funding round so far in the industry

New Delhi-based e-commerce platform Snapdeal, which is undergoing troubled times and is in talks of being sold to rival company Flipkart, would be breathing a sigh of relief after the sale of its payments arm.

However, since the term sheet that has been signed is non-exclusive, Snapdeal is allowed to hold talks with other potential buyers.

One of these buyers could be the global payments giant PayPal, which was once close to picking up a majority stake in FreeCharge but the deal didn’t go through because of valuation differences.

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