TBO Tek Limited has filed DHRP with the Indian stock market regulator SEBI for its much-awaited IPO
TBO Tek Limited, one of the leading travel distribution platforms in the global travel and tourism industry providing services to buyers and suppliers in over 100 countries with a comprehensive travel inventory, has filed an Offer Document with Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the stock market regulator in India, for an Initial Public Offer, proposing to raise funds through issue of equity share of face value INR 1 each comprising of fresh issue of equity shares aggregating up to INR 4 billion and an offer for sale of up to 15.64 million equity shares.
In a press statement, TBO says that it proposes to utilise the net proceeds from the fresh issue towards growth and strengthening of the platform by adding new buyers and suppliers, unidentified inorganic acquisitions and general corporate purposes.
It adds that the TBO platform connects over 147,000 buyers across more than 100 countries with over one million suppliers, as of June 30, 2023. TBO says it offers over 7,500 destinations and facilitates 33,000 bookings per day through its platform. TBO supports a wide range of currencies, numbering over 55, along with forex assistances.
TBO says it simplifies the business of travel for suppliers such as hotels, airlines, car rentals, transfers, cruises, insurance, rail and others and retail buyers such as travel agencies and independent travel advisors and enterprise buyers that include tour operators, travel management companies, online travel companies, super-apps and loyalty apps through the two-sided technology platform that enables suppliers and buyers to transact seamlessly with each other.
TBO says its platform allows the large and fragmented base of Suppliers to display and market inventory to, and set prices for, the large and fragmented global Buyer base. For buyers, the platform is an integrated, multi-currency and multi-lingual one-stop solution that helps them discover and book travel for destinations worldwide, across various travel segments such as leisure, corporate and religious travel.
The statement adds that the Offer for Sale comprises of up to 2.03 million equity shares by Gaurav Bhatnagar, up to 572,056 equity shares by Manish Dhingra and up to 2.6 million equity shares by LAP Travel collectively referred to as “Promoter Selling Shareholders” and up to 3,767,200 equity shares by TBO Korea and upto 6,656,796 equity shares by Augusta TBO referred to as “Investor Selling Shareholders”.
The statement adds that TBO’s total income has increased to INR 10.86 billion in FY23 and INR 3.5 billion in Q1 FY24, from INR 5.12 billion in FY22 and INR 1.77 billion in FY 21. The restated profit was INR 1.49 billion in FY23 and INR 473 million in Q1 FY 24 vis-a-vis INR 337.2 million in FY22 and a loss of INR 341.4 million in FY21. The Adjusted EBITDA margin was 18.69 pc for FY 23 and 20.03 pc for Q1 FY24.
The statement adds that the company and the selling shareholders may, in consultation with the book running lead managers, consider a private placement or such other route as may be permitted under the applicable law, at the discretion of the company, of equity shares for a cash consideration, at its discretion, or the “Pre-IPO placement”. The Pre-IPO placement will be undertaken prior to filing of the red herring prospectus with the ROC.
Axis Capital Limited, Goldman Sachs (India) Securities Private Limited, Jefferies India Private Limited and JM Financial Limited are the Book Running Lead Managers of the issue.
The Equity Shares that will be offered through the Red Herring Prospectus are proposed to be listed on the Stock Exchanges being BSE and the National Stock Exchange of India.
The company adds that recently, leading investment firm General Atlantic announced that it acquired a minority stake in TBO in October 2023.
TBO operates in the global travel and tourism market that stood at USD 1.7 trillion in 2017. In 2023 the travel and tourism industry is estimated to recover at pace, growing 18.2 pc year-on-year from 2022 to reach USD 1.9 trillion, and expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.2 pc to reach USD 2.6 trillion in 2027.
