US retail giant Walmart entry into India has been in the offing for long. With takeeover of Flipkart it is now looking to retain Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal and other minority investors such as Tiger Global for at least four years, promising that it will protect the valuation of their shareholding and offer them the potential upside of taking the company public.

In a filing with the US Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday, Walmart said it would allow the initial public offering (IPO) of Flipkart in four years at a valuation no less than what it invested in the e-commerce firm, if a grouping of minority shareholders asks for it. Walmart announced on Wednesday it was acquiring a 77 per cent stake in Flipkart at a valuation of $20.8 billion.

“Holders of 60 per cent of the Flipkart shares held by the minority shareholders, acting together, may require Flipkart to effect an initial public offering following the fourth anniversary of closing of the transactions at a valuation no less than that paid by Walmart under the share issuance agreement,” the filing read. The clause will help Walmart persuade Binny and Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy, who was a top executive at Tiger Global, to stay with the firm for a period of at least four years. This is to ensure that Walmart is not prematurely left with ownership of a company that it does not know how to run, according to experts.

At the time of announcing the deal, Walmart had said it supported the Flipkart management’s desire to go public in future. The resulting entity would be a publicly-listed, majority-owned subsidiary of Walmart, it said. The proposed IPO gives minority shareholders a reason to stay invested, as they could potentially augment the value of their shareholding.