Trip.com Group announced that it has entered into a share repurchase agreement with MakeMyTrip to sell a portion of the Indian OTA's Class B ordinary shares back to MakeMyTrip for cancellation.
The Chinese online travel giant stated that the move is part of its strategy to "optimize investment portfolio and enhance shareholder returns".
Following the completion of the proposed repurchase, Trip.com Group will remain the largest minority shareholder of MakeMyTrip and will continue to support the company's growth.
Trip.com Group first invested USD 180 million in MakeMyTrip—India's largest online travel company—via convertible bonds in January 2016.
In 2019, Trip.com Group announced a share exchange transaction with Naspers, in which Naspers traded its stake in MakeMyTrip for newly issued Trip.com shares.
At the same time, the Chinese OTA transferred some MakeMyTrip ordinary and Class B shares to a third-party investment entity.
After the deal, Naspers held about 5.6% of Trip.com, while Trip.com and the third party held around 49.0% and 4.0% of MakeMyTrip’s voting power, respectively.
As of the end of 2023 and 2024, the carrying value of Trip.com Group's investment in MakeMyTrip was RMB 6.2 billion and RMB 7.1 billion (around USD 864 million and USD 989 million), respectively.
