Global internet and media group, Naspers has sold majority stock in India’s leading B2B travel portal, Travel Boutique Online. This marks Naspers second big exit in India in three months after it sold all of 11.18% shares in Flipkart to the US-based Walmart for ₹14,797 crores ($2.2 billion).
Standard Chartered Private Equity (SCPE), the private equity arm of Standard Chartered Bank has acquired a 49% stake in Travel Boutique Online from Naspers. The details of the transactions are not yet disclosed, but according to sources, Naspers had invested ₹110 crores in Travel Boutique Online, has now earned around ₹285 crores from the stake sale, giving it a return of over 200% after six years.
Travel Boutique Online was founded by Ankush Nijhawan and Gaurav Bhatnagar in 2006. It is a B2B travel portal that helps travel agents and tour operators by providing travel solutions to expand their business. The travel solutions provided include dynamic packages, hotel and flight booking APIs, among others. The company has 45,000 customers and 45 offices across the country.
Talking about Travel Boutique’s new partner, Ankush Nijhawan, co-founder, TBO Group, said, “We are very happy to have SCPE as our partner as we embark on the next stage of TBO’s growth. Through leveraging SCPE ‘s extensive network and business planning expertise, we would be able to strengthen our position as a leading B2B travel distribution player in the global landscape.”
Consolidated net sales for the company was recorded at ₹276 crores for the year 2016-17, up by ₹71 crores from the previous financial year. Net profit was recorded at ₹28.9 crores for the year 2016-17, which is up from ₹16 crores for the previous financial year.
While Naspers has been in the news for its big-ticket exits lately, it still holds significant investments in India with OLX, online classifieds startup, payment and fintech service provider PayU, online delivery service provider Swiggy, along with MakeMyTrip, India’s leading online travel company.