Sources Ctrip 1.09b Kong Usfiorettibloomberg; Sources: travel booking site Trip.com, formerly called Ctrip, plans to raise ~$1.09B in its Hong Kong secondary listing; its US shares have risen ~4% this year
According to a Bloomberg report on November 12th, the Chinese travel company Trip.com has made plans to raise $1.09 billion through a Hong Kong initial public offering of its corporate and unlisted holdings (thereby raising $600 million for itself). This filing of a registration statement seeks to list Trip’s ordinary shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange, with potential investors including chairman Steve Liang.
Trip.com has also disclosed that investors would be able to buy and sell Trip’s US-listed shares in the US on April 16th, after completing all listing procedures; its ordinary shares plan to trade under the ticker TCPCQ on Nasdaq and will be managed by WG Global Capital Management Inc.
Founded in 1999, Trip.com is a travel company that provides online search, price comparison and booking services of travel products in China, including air tickets, hotels and packaged tours; its mobile apps have been downloaded more than 40 million times to date. A branch of Ctrip.com International Ltd, Trip.com has raised ~$724 million in five equity financing rounds so far; so far its shares have risen ~4% this year to $11.26 per share at the time of writing on Tianyin.com (Travel).
Net income for the nine-month period ended September 30th, 2013 was $44.3 million (RMB 240.7 million) on revenues of $110.5 million; Trip.com plans to use its majority stake in Ctrip in China to help it expand into Southeast Asia, with the aim of becoming a “global Internet travel agency”.
Ctrip: China’s Largest Travel Site
According to Nikkei in August 2012, Ctrip.com was the largest travel booking site in China, with over 95% market share (a source for this information was also not provided). Bloomberg reported that Ctrip.com was the biggest Chinese travel website by 2013, as retail sales of travel tickets rose in Asia’s second-largest economy; during 2014 their website reported that it had received 80 million annual visitors and generated 1.35 billion in revenue.
Ctrip International: Raising $1.5B Capital in 2012-2013
In September 2012, China’s largest travel company by market capitalization, Ctrip International, received approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange (specifically as CTG); its CEO James Liang stated that he planned to use this opportunity to raise $1.5 billion in capital for future expansion. A source for this information was also not provided at the time.
Ctrip International’s shares were listed on the New York Stock Exchange in March 2013, and its IPO price of $14 per share valued it at a total of $1.82 billion; its shares were also listed on the main board of the Hong Kong stock exchange in May 2013 at $16.15 per share, raising a further $400 million in capital. Later in June 2013, its shares in the US were listed on Nasdaq at $20.15 per share; a total of ~$1.4 billion in capital was raised from these last two listings.
Ctrip’s IPO price of $14 per share valued it at a total of $1.82 billion; its shares were also listed on the main board of the Hong Kong stock exchange in May 2013 at $16.
