SoftBank gets promoter tag in Unicommerce’s IPO filing

Unicommerce Esolutions has tagged Japanese investor SoftBank, which holds a nearly 30% stake in the ecommerce enterprise software developer, as well as Snapdeal cofounders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal as the Gurugram-based company's promoters in an addendum filed to its draft IPO prospectus.

The original draft red herring prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Board of India had named only AceVector Ltd - the parent company of Snapdeal - as its promoter.

SoftBank has also signed an indemnity agreement with Bahl and Bansal to protect itself and its executives from any liabilities that may arise out of the responsibilities of being deemed a promoter of Unicommerce.

The company's board on May 29 tagged SoftBank, Bahl and Bansal as promoters, as per the addendum. The indemnity agreement was signed prior to that on May 17.

Unicommerce had made the initial IPO filing in January with its investors looking to sell shares worth around Rs 480-490 crore. The proposal does not have any fresh capital component.

Under Indian rules, a shareholder with a stake of 26% or more is termed a promoter, which puts restrictions on the shares it could sell after the initial public offering.

ET had reported in January that Dutch investment firm Prosus may get identified as a promoter of food and grocery delivery firm Swiggy, in which it is the largest shareholder.