MakeMyTrip, India's Largest online travel company to become to hold initial share sale in USA

July 26 (Bloomberg) -- MakeMyTrip Ltd., India’s largest online travel company, aims to raise as much as $100 million on the Nasdaq Stock Market to become the nation’s first firm to hold an initial share sale in the U.S. in four years.

Morgan Stanley, Oppenheimer & Co. and Pacific Crest Securities LLC will manage the offering, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing yesterday. The company will be India’s first to list in the U.S. since Mumbai-based back-office services provider WNS Holdings Ltd. raised $255 million in July 2006, according to Bloomberg data.

MakeMyTrip, based in Gurgaon near New Delhi, will use the proceeds from the share sale to acquire or invest in businesses and for working capital, it said. The company is the largest Indian online travel firm based on gross bookings last year, it said, citing data from travel research firm PhoCusWright Inc.

The company began operations in 2000 by offering travel services to non-resident Indians in the U.S., according to the filing. It started offering services domestically in September 2005, and posted a loss of $6.2 million for the year ended March, according to the filing.

--Editors: Chitra Somayaji, James Gunsalus
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