Ctrip announced a share exchange transaction with Naspers Limited, an early investor in Tencent, pursuant to which Naspers will exchange its stake in India's largest OTA MakeMyTrip for newly issued shares in Ctrip.
Concurrent with the share exchange, Ctrip will invest certain ordinary shares and class B shares of MakeMyTrip in a third-party investment entity. Post the transaction, Naspers will own approximately 5.6% of Ctrip's outstanding ordinary shares, and Ctrip and the third-party investment entity will own ordinary shares and class B shares of MakeMyTrip, representing approximately 49.0% and 4.0% of MakeMyTrip's total voting power, respectively.
"Over the past years we have witnessed the great achievements of MakeMyTrip, and we are confident that MakeMyTrip will extend its success in the future," said James Liang, Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Ctrip.
"We are also delighted to welcome Naspers to become our shareholder. Ctrip will continue to work hard to create greater value to our customers, our partners and all shareholders," Jane Sun, CEO of Ctrip commented.
Deep Kalra, Chairman and Group CEO of MakeMyTrip, said: "We are grateful for the unstinting support Naspers has provided us over the last couple of years. We have worked with Ctrip in the past years and are excited to take this partnership to the next level. We will leverage this investment to benefit from the tremendous growth potential in travel and tourism between our two countries."
"The agreement we have announced today is a significant step in the growth ambitions of both MakeMyTrip and Ctrip and we believe continuing to support them as a shareholder will create additional value for Naspers and our shareholders," said Bob van Dijk, Naspers CEO.
The transaction is expected to close as soon as practicable in the second half of 2019 and is subject to customary closing conditions, including the requisite regulatory approvals.
