Yatra to be listed on Nasdaq after Terrapin acquisition

Terrapin 3 Acquisition Corp (TRTL)—a special purpose acquisition firm has made an offer to buy online travel portal Yatra.com at a valuation of $218 million to form a combined entity. Post the merger, if Yatra achieves certain financial objectives within 18 months, it may receive additional consideration of up to $35 million.

The reverse-merge will also pave the way for Yatra to be listed on Nasdaq under the symbol “YTRA”. The combined entity will continue to be led by Yatra’s management team under the leadership of its chief executive and co-founder Dhruv Shringi.

As per the terms of the proposed transaction, current shareholders of Yatra will continue to own around 35 percent of the issued and outstanding shares in the combined company. However, cash payments to the current shareholders of Yatra will be capped at $80 million. The first $100 million of cash will be allocated entirely to the combined company’s balance sheet and will help pay for the transaction expenses.

“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,” Shringi said.

Yatra launched in August 2006 was one of the early online travel portals within India with more than 4 million customers. The company, however, has been facing stiff competition from the likes of MakeMyTrip and Goibibo.

Although the company is not entirely down in dumps; during the financial year that ended in March 2016, Yatra witnessed booking of more than 2.8 million air travel reservations and hotel stays with a total transaction value worth more than $900 million. This signifies a 25 percent increase from the prior year. Also, the company notes that 74 percent transactions were repeated clients.