Softbank writes off $1.4 billion from Snapdeal & Ola investments for FY17

A man walks past the logo of the SoftBank telecommunications company in Tokyo, Japan, May 10, 2016. REUTERS/Thomas Peter - RTX2DKEH

Japan-based investor SoftBank has incurred a valuation loss of USD 1.4 billion for the year ending March 31, mainly on account of its two biggest investments in India – Snapdeal and Ola.

“Loss on financial instruments at Fair Value through Profit or Loss (FVTPL) was ¥160,419 million compared to a gain of ¥114,377 million in the previous fiscal year,” the company reported in a financial filing on Wednesday. Currency fluctuation also played a role in widening the loss for the noted period.

The investor had written down as much as USD 555 million in Snapdeal and Ola for the six months ending September 30, 2016.

The loss in FY17 mainly resulted from changes in the fair value of the company’s financial instruments including preferred shares of Jasper Infotech-led Snapdeal and ANI Technologies that operates Ola. The company said the fair value of these stocks fell sharply between March 2016 and 2017.

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Pointing to Snapdeal’s diminishing performance in India’s highly competitive e-commerce market; Softbank report said that low performance has become a trend now.

Softbank, one of the primary investors of Snapdeal is currently in discussions with other investors of Snapdeal, especially Nexus Partners, to approve an impending sale to bigger rival Flipkart. The valuation of the company is said to have declined from USD 6.5 billion in early 2016 to just about a billion dollars, this year.

Softbank has invested around USD 2 billion across multiple internet ventures in India with Ola and Snapdeal garnering maximum investments.