Naspers has announced it is investing a further US$250m (about R3,9bn) in Indian online travel venture ibibo Group.
The investment will be focused on extending ibibo’s leadership position in the Indian hotels category and on additional technology innovations, the South African-listed technology and media giant said in a statement.
Naspers CEO Bob van Dijk said in the statement: “The Indian e-commerce market, and the online travel segment in particular, offers exciting growth prospects for us as a group. With a talented, proven management team and exceptional technology, ibibo is well positioned to benefit from an increasing number of people using online travel services.”
Ibibo processed more than 6,5m transactions in the last three months of 2015, Naspers said.
“It is the largest online travel company in India, generating more than 2,5 times the transaction volumes of its nearest competitor. The group owns integrated online travel properties such as Goibibo.com (India’s largest hotels booking engine) and redBus.in (the number one online bus ticketing platform).”
Both Naspers and its affiliate, China’s Tencent, in which it holds a one-third stake, are investors in ibibo Group.
According to a report in India’s Economic Times, following this latest investment, Naspers will own a 90% stake in ibibo.
The newspaper said Naspers and Tencent have invested between $350m and $400m in ibibo Group to date, with the bulk of the money coming from Naspers. — (c) 2016 NewsCentral Media
