Ibibo, the Indian joint venture invested by China's Tencent and South Africa's Naspers, has reportedly acquired an Indian online bus ticket website named RedBus.in.
According to reports in foreign media, RedBus is a dominant business in this sector, and it has changed the traveling patterns of Indian people in some regions. The acquisition will soon be formally announced.
Though Ibibo did not reveal the transaction terms, it is said that the deal was valued about USD133 million. Naspers owns a 80% stake in Ibibo, while Tencent holds the remaining 20%. Naspers also has a stake in Tencent.
Ashish Kashyap, chief executive officer and founder of Ibibo, confirmed that after the acquisition, RedBus will maintain an independent operation. Meanwhile, they will integrate RedBus with their existing tourism services, including the B2C travel aggregation service Giobibo.com and the B2C travel agent platform TravelBoutiqueOnline.
Kashyap said Phanindra Sama, co-founder and chief executive officer of RedBus, will continue to lead the company after the acquisition.
Most of the transactions at RedBus are completed via the Internet. In February 2013, the company formally launched its mobile service.
