Travel tech consortium Mondee is going public via a merger SPAC Deal

Travel technology consortium Mondee is going public via a merger with special purpose acquisition company ITHAX Acquisition Corp. in a deal valued at about $1 billion.

The deal, announced over the holidays and expected to close in the first half of this year, will leave Mondee operating under its name and with its existing management team in place. Cash proceeds in the transaction will include $241.5 million from ITHAX and $50 million from investors via a private investment in public equity transaction.

Mondee, which launched in 2011 as a technology and content platform focusing on leisure travel agents, has since expanded with several acquisitions, including corporate travel savings and incentive specialist Rocketrip in September. The company plans to continue its mergers and acquisitions strategy as it goes public “by acquiring smaller, private competitors at lower [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization] marketables…and integrating them under the Mondee umbrella,” ITHAX chairman and CEO Orestes Fintiklis said in an investor call announcing the acquisition.

The deal is the latest in a spate of “blank check” SPAC deals, which enable companies to go public without the traditional initial public offering process, within the travel industry. American Express Global Business Travel in early December announced a merger with SPAC Apollo Strategic Growth Capital, also expected to close in the first half of this year, and both Wheels Up and Cvent also went public through the process last year.

Michael B. Baker  www.businesstravelnews.com