18 August 2010

Conyers advises on first Mauritius NASDAQ Listing

Conyers Dill & Pearman advised MakeMyTrip Limited on its US $70 million IPO on the Nasdaq Global Market on August 17, 2010.

MakeMyTrip Limited is the first ever Mauritius incorporated company to list on a major New York stock exchange. The transaction is a landmark for Mauritius, as it clearly demonstrates that Mauritius is an accepted jurisdiction for major listings due to its robust systems of corporate governance, and paves the way for future US listings through Mauritius.

Conyers Dill & Pearman advised MakeMyTrip on Mauritius law aspects of the listing alongside Latham & Watkins LLP, who provided US law advice, and S&R Associates, who advised on Indian law. Shearman & Sterling LLP acted as US counsel to the underwriters, Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. and Pacific Crest Securities LLC, with Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff & Co. providing Indian law counsel.

Craig Fulton, Head of Conyers’ Mauritius office, commented: “Our Mauritius practice was able to draw on Conyers’ deep experience in complex IPO work in Singapore and our multi-jurisdictional capabilities in such transactions to bring about this precedent-making structure. As one of the BRIC emerging market nations, India is an important capital market with huge growth potential. The listing indicates a renewed appetite for capital raising on stock exchanges and we expect more transactions of this type to follow.

Conyers has an international reputation for IPO expertise and advises on listings on many Asian stock exchanges through its Hong Kong and Singapore offices.

With offices in both Singapore and Mauritius, Conyers is ideally positioned to advise on work coming out of Mauritius and India as the market revitalises.

According to its primary website, www.makemytrip.com, MakeMyTrip Limited is the parent company of MakeMyTrip (India) Private Limited and MakeMyTrip.com Inc., India’s largest online travel company, based on 2009 gross bookings. The company is backed by several major private equity funds and provides access through its subsidiaries to all major domestic full-service and low-cost airlines operating in India, all major airlines operating to and from India, over 4,000 hotels in India and a wide selection of hotels outside India, Indian Railways and several major Indian bus operators. The company’s shares trade on Nasdaq under the symbol MMYT.

Since establishing a Mauritius presence last year, Conyers has received a significant number of instructions and built a solid reputation for delivering the highest quality legal advice in a responsive and timely manner.

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