This acquisition is a clear demonstration of our strategy to build value by creating a high-quality ecosystem of complementary businesses," said Fabricio Bloisi, CEO of Prosus Group. "Despegar is a highly profitable company, with an attractive market position, and an experienced management team - making it a natural addition to our presence in Latin America. We will accelerate Despegar's growth by leveraging the extensive customer touchpoints within our portfolio.
The company, based out of Argentina, is publicly traded on the NYSE and had a market cap of $1.24 billion as of last Friday. This deal - which specifically will see Prosus pay $19.50 per share - is a 33% premium on that price, but it is also, notably, still less than the market cap that Despegar had on its first day of public trading in 2017.
With GDP across LatAm expected to grow 2-3% next year, Prosus wants to use Despegar to lean into greater economies of scale in the region. It already owns food delivery platform iFood and Sympla, Latin America's answer to Ticketmaster, and together it will have 100 million customers across all three properties after the deal closes.
On Despegar's side, it could give the company a boost of investment in the near term.
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