Travel tech firm Mondee to go public in $1 bln SPAC deal (updated)

MH Wind Down Co

20/12/2021 12:36

(Adds listing details, company background)
    Dec 20 (Reuters) - U.S. travel software maker Mondee Inc
said on Monday it will go public in a merger with blank-check
company ITHAX Acquisition Corp  ITHX.O , in a deal valuing the
combined entity at about $1 billion.
    The deal includes $241.5 million in cash held in trust by
the acquisition vehicle and $50 million in private placement in
public equity anchored by investors including funds affiliated
with Morgan Stanley Investment Management, among others.
    Mondee's listing plans come at a time the global travel and
hospitality industries are recovering from a roughly two-year
slump due to by the COVID-19 pandemic.
    Founded in 2011, Mondee offers a software platform to travel
agencies, tour operators and other distributors. It has acquired
multiple platforms in the travel tech space, including Rocketrip
and Cosmopolitan Travel Services.
    Earlier this month, American Express Global Business Travel
said it will merge with a blank-check company backed by Apollo
Global Management Inc  APO.N  in a deal valued at around $5.3
billion.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2SO2TS.
    Sponsored by the founders of Ithaca Capital and AXIA
Ventures, ITHAX raised $241.5 million in an initial public
offering (IPO) in January this year. It intended to target a
company in the travel and hospitality sectors, it said https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/02/01/2167588/0/en/ITHAX-Acquisition-Corp-Announces-Closing-of-Upsized-241-5-Million-Initial-Public-Offering.html
 in February.
    A SPAC is a listed firm with no business operations but a
pool of capital raised through an IPO that it uses to merge with
a private company that it takes public.
    Silicon Valley-headquartered Mondee will list on Nasdaq
under the symbol "MOND" after the deal closes in the first half
of next year.
    

 (Reporting by Mehnaz Yasmin in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini
Ganguli)
 ((Mehnaz.Yasmin@thomsonreuters.com;))