Yatra Online, Inc., a rapidly growing India-based online travel agent, and Terrapin 3 Acquisition Corporation (NASDAQ: TRTL; "TRTL"), announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement to combine in a transaction that values Yatra at an enterprise value of $218 million. Yatra is one of the fastest growing consumer travel platforms and online travel agents in India with more than 4 million customers. TRTL is a special purpose acquisition company formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, acquisition, or similar business combination. Yatra will be the surviving company in the transaction and intends to be listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market under the symbol "YTRA" following completion of the transaction. The combined company will continue to be led by Yatra's experienced management team under the leadership of chief executive and co-founder Dhruv Shringi.
Launched in August 2006, Yatra, through its yatra.com website, is a one-stop online shop for all travel-related services aimed at both leisure and business travelers in India. A leading consolidator of travel products, Yatra provides reservation connectivity for more than 60,000 hotels in India, a larger network than any other Indian online travel agent. Positioned as a brand that believes in "creating happy travelers," yatra.com provides information, pricing, and booking capability for domestic Indian and international air travel, hotel bookings, holiday packages, and bus and railway reservations, all designed to make business and leisure travel easier and more affordable. Customers can access yatra.com from their desktop or mobile browsers, via Yatra's mobile applications, a 24x7 multi-language call center, and a countrywide network of Holiday Lounges and Yatra Travel Express store locations.
Yatra customers booked more than 2.8 million air travel reservations and hotel stays with total transaction value worth more than $900 million (at current exchange rates) during their fiscal year ended March 2016, an increase of 25% from the prior year (at constant currency rates) with 74% of transactions coming from repeat clients who return to book more travel.
"We are excited to partner with TRTL in a transaction that we believe will enable Yatra to continue its growth as a new public company," said Mr. Shringi. "This transaction gives us substantial additional resources to support our growth and the continued improvement of our integrated online and mobile platforms. We look forward to expanding our already extensive network of domestic and international partnerships with hotels, airlines, car services, and tour package promoters, as well as further strengthening our brand presence and technology platform."
Nathan Leight, Chairman of the board of TRTL, said, "We created TRTL with the express purpose of partnering with a company that would benefit from a public listing, could utilize our cash resources for growth and generate long-term returns for our shareholders. Yatra has the broadest brand recognition of any online travel agent in India. The infrastructure required to compete in India as an online travel agent represents a significant barrier to market entry. With its high level of brand recognition, large hotel network, significant investment in technology, and deep management experience in this sector, we believe Yatra has created tremendous competitive advantages. Not only is India one of the fastest growing economies in the world, business and leisure travel are among the fastest growing parts of its economy. Adding to that India's tremendous socio-economic trends toward urbanization and the rapid adoption of e-commerce and smartphone use by a population with increasing amounts of disposable income, we are excited about Yatra's prospects. We believe our combination will provide substantial new resources to position the company for accelerated future growth."
Yatra's current key investors include leading U.S. and Indian venture capital firms and Indian strategic investors. This group will continue to own approximately a third or more of Yatra upon the consummation of the business combination.
Promod Haque, Senior Managing Partner at Norwest Venture Partners, said, "We are delighted to have TRTL on board in combination with Yatra. This transaction will provide Yatra with significant resources to further strengthen its presence as one of the leading players in the fast growing Indian online travel market. We believe that the online travel market in India has a long runway of future growth with the key drivers of increasing prosperity, smartphone penetration and internet access across broad sections of the population. With its strong brand awareness and robust technology platform, Yatra is perfectly positioned to leverage the additional resources from this transaction to grow the business at an even faster pace going forward."
About Yatra
Founded in 2006 by venture capital firms and experienced travel industry and technology executives, Yatra is a leading online travel agent and consolidator of travel products based in Gurgaon, India. Yatra has emerged as the most trusted eCommerce travel brand in India as ranked by The Economic Times, Brand Equity's Most Trusted Brand Survey 2015, and has won three awards at the Indian government's Ministry of Tourism National Tourism Awards - 'Outstanding performance as a Domestic Tour Operator (Rest of India)', Outstanding performance as a Domestic Tour Operator in Jammu and Kashmir' and 'Outstanding performance as an Inbound Tour Operator-Category C'.
About Terrapin 3 Acquisition Corporation
TRTL is a special purpose acquisition company formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, acquisition, or similar business combination, which raised $212.75 million in July 2014 for the purpose of combining with a public or privately-held operating business. TRTL was founded by Nathan Leight and was co-sponsored by affiliates of Terrapin Partners, LLC and affiliates of Macquarie Group Limited. TRTL is Mr. Leight's and the Terrapin team's third publicly traded acquisition vehicle. The first, Aldabra Acquisition Corporation, became Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Corporation in 2006 in a transaction of approximately $414 million. The second, Aldabra 2 Acquisition Corp., became Boise Inc. in 2008 in a transaction of approximately $1.6 billion and traded on the New York Stock Exchange until it was acquired by Packaging Corporation of America.
About Macquarie and Macquarie Capital
Macquarie Group ("Macquarie") is a global provider of banking, financial, advisory, investment and funds management services. Macquarie's main business focus is making returns by providing a diversified range of services to clients. Macquarie acts on behalf of institutional, corporate and retail clients and counterparties around the world. Founded in 1969, Macquarie operates in more than 70 office locations in 28 countries. Macquarie employs approximately 14,000 people and has assets under management of over $367.4 billion (as of March 31, 2016).
