Prosus picks up additional 5.33% stake in ixigo, increases holding to around 15%

From L to R: Saurabh Devendra Singh (Group Chief Financial Officer, ixigo), Aloke Bajpai (Chairman, Managing Director, and Group CEO, ixigo) and Rajnish Kumar (Director and Group Co-CEO, ixigo) at the press conference for Le Travenues Technology Limited’s (ixigo) Initial Public Offering (IPO).

Dutch technology investor Prosus, which picked up a 10.1 percent in travel aggregator ixigo's parent Le Travenues Technology on October 10, has bought another 5.33 percent stake, taking its shareholding in the online travel agency (OTA) to around 15 percent.

It picked up the shares from Elevation Capital and Peak XV Partners. Moneycontrol was first to write about Prosus buying more shares in ixigo from its existing backers.

The additional 5 percent stake cost Prosus around Rs 620-660 crore, taking its total investment in ixigo to around Rs 1,900-2,000 crore, including the Rs 1,295 crore it paid to pick up a 10.1 percent stake through preference shares.

Prosus is now the single largest shareholder in ixigo, holding around 14.5 percent in the company on a fully diluted basis.

Ixigo's share prices were up 3 percent on the BSE, changing hands at Rs 319.9 apiece on the BSE as of 12:15 pm on October 15.

What is Prosus’ strategy in India?

Prosus is looking to build a platform play in India, the world’s third-largest startup market.

Here, it backs several platforms: Meesho (e-commerce), Urban Company (services), Swiggy (food and groceries), Rapido (mobility platform), among others.

With the ixigo (travel) bet, it will look to re-enter the travel sector, a key focus area, in India.

Around 2007, it backed Goibibo and later sold it to MakeMyTrip (MMT) in 2017, making it a shareholder in MMT, India’s largest OTA player. It however sold that stake to China’s Ctrip later on.

In May this year, Prosus fully acquired Latin America’s Despegar for $1.7 billion to deepen its travel play.

It is also the first private investment in public entity (PIPE) deal for Prosus here in India.

“Going forward, Prosus will look at acquiring a healthy stake in companies either through private investments or via PIPE,” a source concluded.