US asset manager Invesco has acquired a substantial portion of the stake held by China’s Fosun Group in AI-based travel app ixigo, multiple industry sources in the know told Moneycontrol.
The move by the Atlanta-headquartered firm, which had $1.5 trillion in AUM (assets under management) as of June 30, comes at a time when the domestic travel industry is gradually bouncing back to pre-Covid levels.
ixigo, which is also backed by the likes of Elevation Capital (formerly Saif Partners), Sequoia Capital and GIC, filed papers with Sebi in August to raise Rs 1,600 crore via an IPO.
“Invesco is bullish on the India tech story and this secondary deal has been struck via the Invesco Emerging Markets Innovators Fund,” said one of the person’s above.
The Fosun Group via its arm Fosun Kinzon Capital PTE, held a 3.69 percent stake in ixigo, as per the firm’s draft papers.
A second person told Moneycontrol, “ Invesco is keen on pre-IPO trades. To be sure, Fosun has sold a major portion of its current holding but is not making a complete exit.”
A third person also confirmed the secondary stake sale and added that Fosun was looking to make a partial or complete exit from some of its other Indian portfolio companies as well.
Moneycontrol could not verify the exact quantum of the stake sold or the valuation. Recent reports indicate that Fosun also sold a part stake in IPO-bound logistics firm Delhivery to former Tiger Global executive Lee Fixel’s firm Addition.
All the three persons above spoke to Moneycontrol on the condition of anonymity.
We are awaiting an email response from Invesco, Fosun and ixigo and have sent reminders. This article will be updated once we hear from the firms.
Recently, IPO-bound fintech firm Pine Labs raised $100 million from Invesco. According to reports, the asset manager is in talks to lead a financing round of $500 million to $600 million in food delivery major Swiggy.
In July, ixigo raised $53 million from a consortium of investors led by GIC. The next month, one of its earliest backers, MakeMyTrip, made an exit and pocketed 8x returns. The sale consideration was for $38.5 million and the buyers included Trifecta Leaders Fund-1, Bay Capital, Malabar Investments and White Oak. The deal valued ixigo at around Rs 3,500 crore, sources added.
According to ixigo’s draft papers, Elevation Capital holds a 23.7 percent stake while Sequoia Capital and GIC hold 16.02 percent and 9.89 per cent, respectively.
Invesco, a key shareholder in Zee Entertainment Enterprises, is currently locked in a tussle with the Subhash Chandra-promoted firm over demands for a board rejig and the ouster of MD and CEO Punit Goenka.
IXIGO: AHEAD OF THE IPO
On July 27, 2021, Moneycontrol broke the story of the pre-IPO funding round in ixigo which was led by GIC, Info Edge, Malabar Investments and White Oak Capital. Orios Venture Partners, Bay Capital and Trifecta Capital were also part of the consortium.
Moneycontrol was also the first to report that ixigo was planning to go public in 2021 and was looking to raise Rs 1,500 crore to Rs 1,800 crore via the proposed IPO in a story dated April 5.
Recently, Ixigo had announced the buyout of Hyderabad-based bus ticketing and aggregation platform AbhiBus. This was the firm’s second acquisition in 2021 after the acquisition of the train booking app Confirmtkt in February 2021.
It also beefed up its board with 6 new independent members which included executives from the travel and hospitality space like former IRCTC chairman and managing director Pratap Mall, Hopper founder Frederic Lalonde and Hamstede Living MD & CEO Rahul Pandit.
On September 13, ixigo co-founder Aloke Bajpai said in a tweet, “ Travel is bouncing back like crazy! IRCTC reserved train bookings already very close to pre-Covid and now after 1.5 months, flights have crossed 60 % of pre-Covid level again with 2.56 lac passengers in the sky yesterday.”
Reflecting the buoyancy in the segment, in the last six months, the share prices of listed peers EaseMyTrip and IRCTC have soared 3x and more than 2.5x, respectively.
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