Landmark Nasdaq Listing For Mauritius Firm

by Lorys Charalambous, Tax-News.com, Cyprus

03 September 2010

Leading Indian online travel company, MakeMyTrip Limited has undertaken a USD70m Initial Public Offering on the Nasdaq Global Market, making it the first Mauritius-incorporated company to list on a major New York stock exchange.

The company said it intends to use the net proceeds of the sale of five million ordinary shares to expand its operations “by acquiring or investing in strategic businesses or assets that complement the company’s service and product offerings and to invest in enhancements to its technology, as well as for working capital and other general corporate purposes.”

Conyers Dill & Pearman, who advised on the listing, commented of the IPO that the transaction “is a landmark for Mauritius, as it clearly demonstrates that Mauritius is an accepted jurisdiction for major listings due to its robust systems of corporate governance, and paves the way for future US listings through Mauritius.”

Craig Fulton, Head of Conyers’ Mauritius office, commented: “Our Mauritius practice was able to draw on Conyers’ deep experience in complex IPO work in Singapore and our multi-jurisdictional capabilities in such transactions to bring about this precedent-making structure. As one of the BRIC emerging market nations, India is an important capital market with huge growth potential. The listing indicates a renewed appetite for capital raising on stock exchanges and we expect more transactions of this type to follow.”

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