China's Ctrip Will Own Nearly Half of India's MakeMyTrip After Share Swap
Skift Take
It makes sense that Ctrip, the market leader in China, would be interested in strategically working more closely with MakeMyTrip in the fast-growing Indian market. In a new deal, it now has five of the 10 board seats at India's largest online travel agency group.
Ctrip.com is increasing its foothold in India.
China's largest online travel group intends to raise its position in India's MakeMyTrip to 49 percent in a share swap deal with Naspers, the company said Friday.
Naspers offered Ctrip even more shares, which would have given it control of MakeMyTrip, noted analysts at Goldman Sachs, but Ctrip opted for a minority position to avoid regulatory scrutiny.
Ctrip's concerns centered around a foreign company taking over a brand in India. Naspers will own about 6 percent of the Chinese travel agency's outstanding ordinary shares after the maneuver.
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