Nasdaq-listed online travel services provider MakeMyTrip is raising $330 million (Rs 2,116 crore) from South African technology group Naspers’ arm MIH Internet, Chinese travel firm Ctrip.com and other investors to fund expansion.
The company has entered into share purchase agreements with undisclosed investors for placement of its ordinary shares, which is expected to generate gross proceeds of $165 million. Morgan Stanley India Company is acting as the sole placement agent in connection with this placement.
In its filing to Nasdaq, the company said it will issue 4,583,334 ordinary shares in aggregate to investors at $36 per scrip.
The closing of placement and the transactions with Ctrip and MIH is likely to happen on or around May 5, it added.
On the utilisation of the new funds, it said: "Proceeds from the transactions will be used to fund business expansion, strategic investments, technology and product development, marketing and promotions, working capital and general corporate purposes."
The transaction further consolidates Naspers’ position as the single-largest stakeholder in MakeMyTrip. The South African-origin investor, which holds about 35 per cent of the company, came on board after it merged its online travel business Ibibo Group with MakeMyTrip in a stock transaction in October last year.
For Ctrip, the deal will cement its position as one of the significant minority shareholders. In January 2016, it invested $180 million in MakeMyTrip. The Chinese online travel giant, which is also backed by US travel giant Priceline, had held about a 10 per cent stake in MakeMyTrip.
In February this year, SAIF Partners, one of the early investors in the firm, fully exited, securing multi-bagger returns of nearly $400 million, or about 16 times its investment, recording, what is believed to be the largest cash exit in India's venture capital industry.
MakeMyTrip, launched in 2005, offers services that include air ticketing, hotel and alternative accommodation bookings, holiday planning and packaging, rail ticketing and intercity bus ticketing. Its other brands include RightStay.com and Redbus.in. It has also forayed into the budget hotel segment.
