Yatra Online makes subdued debut on Nasdaq post reverse merger deal with TRTL

India-based online travel agent firm Yatra Online commenced its trading on tech-heavy Nasdaq stock exchange on Tuesday under the symbol $YTR. Overnight night trades saw Yatra Online shares end marginally lower at $9.70 apiece against its closing price of $10. Intra-day, the stock touched a high of $10.15 and slipped to the day’s low of $8.3954 before recovering some ground to end a tad lower. [caption id=“attachment_1249891” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] Dhruv Shringi, Yatra’s co-founder and chief executive officer, said, “It’s a matter of great pride for us to be one of the few Indian companies to be listed on Nasdaq. Over the course of the past decade, Yatra has established itself as one of the leading brands and companies in the Indian Internet and e-commerce space. We are thankful to our shareholders, customers and patrons for supporting us and helping us achieve this milestone. The additional capital raised through this transaction will be used by us to further accelerate our growth, invest in mobile technology, and expand our multi-channel distribution network. With a well-established brand, a large and loyal customer base, and a strong balance sheet, we are a strong force to be reckoned with in the Indian travel market.” The trading resumed five months after the company and another Nasdaq-listed special purpose acquisition firm Terrapin 3 Acquisition (TRTL) signed a reverse merger deal, leading to an enterprise value of $218 million of the merged entity. As per the deal, TRTL will become a partially-owned subsidiary of Yatra with the merged company being controlled by the TRTL’s leadership team, The Economic Times report said. Yatra became the third Indian internet company to get listed on the Nasdaq bourses. While Yatra’s online travel portal arch rival company MakeMyTrip came out with its IPO on Nasdaq in 2010, the media and entertainment portal Rediff was listed long time back. The fund infusion into Yatra Online through reverse merger comes after its dominant rival MakeMyTrip merged with Ibibo in October to become the biggest travel portals in India. To keep up pace with rising cash demand, MakeMyTrip had earlier raised $180 million from China’s Ctrip, while Tencent-backed Ibibo raised $250 million from South Africa’s Naspers in February, Business Standard report said. Yatra chief executive Dhruv Shringi said the company has also seen a clutch of global investors infusing $92 million into the company, but refused to divulge the names of investors that had invested in Yatra. The company will, however, use part of the funds in tier-2 and tier-3 tows of India, cashing in on the government’s push towards regional aviation and rising air travel demand, the ET report added.