MUMBAI, May 12 (Reuters) - Walmart Inc said on Saturday in a filing with a U.S. regulator that it may take India's Flipkart public in as early as four years, detailing for the first time a potential listing timeline for Walmart's largest-ever acquisition.
Minority investors holding 60 percent of Flipkart's shares "acting together, may require Flipkart to effect an initial public offering" (IPO) four years after the close of the Walmart-Flipkart transaction, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer said in a May 11 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The IPO should be done at no less a valuation than that at which Walmart invested in the Indian firm, the filing said.
Walmart announced earlier this week that it will pay $16 billion for a roughly 77 percent stake in Flipkart in what is the U.S. retail giant's largest-ever deal and a move to take on arch rival Amazon.com Inc in a key growth market.
The investment implies a valuation of nearly $21 billion for Bengaluru-headquartered Flipkart.
Minority shareholders after the deal include co-founder Binny Bansal, China's Tencent Holdings, U.S. hedge fund Tiger Global Management and Microsoft Corp. (Reporting by Sankalp Phartiyal; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)