Reaches Agreement with Maguire Investment Trust
Gurugram, India and New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - January 19, 2022) - Yatra Online, Inc. (NASDAQ: YTRA), India's leading corporate travel services provider and one of India's leading online travel companies today announced that it has entered into a cooperation agreement with Maguire Investment Trust ("Maguire Investment"), which owns 7.4% of the Company's outstanding common stock. As part of the agreement, Roshan Mendis will join Yatra's Board of Directors (the "Board") as an independent director, effective January 17, 2022. The Company also announced that Sean Aggarwal will retire from the Board effective January 18 due to other pressing commitments. Mr. Aggarwal has been a valuable member of the board since March 2018 and has served on numerous committees during his tenure. His retirement is not the result of any disagreement with the Company or any of its affiliates on any matter relating to the Company's operations, policies or practices.
Mr. Mendis brings more than 20 years of experience in travel technology to Yatra's Board of Directors. He currently serves as Chief Commercial Officer of Sabre Travel Network. Previously, he served as president of Travelocity and Zuji, both consumer-facing brands that were part of the Sabre portfolio.
"We are pleased to reach this agreement with Maguire Investment and further strengthen our Board with the addition of Roshan," said Yatra's Board Chairman Muralidhara Kadaba. "Roshan brings significant travel industry operating and leadership expertise that will complement the significant experience already present on our Board and we look forward to benefiting from Roshan's perspectives as Yatra continues executing its strategies to create long-term shareholder value. On behalf of the Board, I would also like to thank Sean Aggarwal for his many contributions as a non-executive director and wish him well."
Yatra's CEO Dhruv Shringi said, "I look forward to working with Roshan and the other directors on our Board, as we continue advancing our multi-channel strategy and deliver results for shareholders. Amidst ongoing industry disruption and evolving consumer trends, we believe we are poised to capitalize on the accelerated shift by consumers to booking travel online and well positioned to deliver on growth and profitability post the pandemic."
Tim Maguire, Managing Partner at Maguire Asset Management stated: "Roshan is a proven leader in the travel industry who will add valuable expertise to the Yatra Board. We are pleased to reach this constructive resolution with the Company, and we are confident these changes will help further our shared goal of creating long-term value for shareholders. We are excited for the future at Yatra."
Under the terms of the cooperation agreement, Maguire Investment has also agreed to abide by certain customary standstill and voting provisions for a period of 18 months from the date of signing of the agreement. The complete agreement will be filed in a Form 6-K by the Company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC").
About Roshan Mendis
Roshan Mendis is chief commercial officer and executive vice president, Travel Solutions at Sabre. Based in London, Mr. Mendis is responsible for overseeing global commercial operations and business development for Sabre's Travel Solutions customer portfolio - encompassing both agency and airline sales.
In his previous role as chief commercial officer for Travel Network, Mr. Mendis built and developed a strong global team that oversaw sales activity for Sabre's global agency customer base.
Prior to this, he also led the successful integration of Abacus, a leading GDS in the Asia-Pacific region, which Sabre acquired in 2015. Under his leadership, Sabre's business in the region significantly expanded through strategic customer wins and renewals.
Prior to his executive position in Travel Network, Mr. Mendis served as president of Travelocity and Zuji, both consumer-facing brands that were part of the Sabre portfolio.
A native of Sri Lanka, Mr. Mendis completed his undergraduate studies at Chaminade University of Honolulu and University of Cambridge (UK). He later earned his MBA at the Rice University in Houston, Texas.
About Yatra Online, Inc.
Yatra Online, Inc. is the ultimate parent company of Yatra Online Limited (Formerly known as Yatra Online Private Limited) whose corporate office is based in Gurugram, India and is India's leading corporate travel services provider with over 700 large corporate customers and one of India's leading online travel companies and operates the website https://www.yatra.com/. The company provides information, pricing, availability, and booking facility for domestic and international air travel, domestic and international hotel bookings, holiday packages, buses, trains, in city activities, inter-city and point-to-point cabs, homestays and cruises. With approximately 94,000 hotels and homestays contracted in approximately 1,400 cities across India as well as more than 2 million hotels around the world, the company is India's largest platform for domestic hotels. The company recently launched a freight forwarding business called Yatra Freight to further expand its corporate service offerings.
About Maguire Asset Management
Maguire Asset Management is a value-oriented investment firm focused on creating long-term shareholder value by engaging constructively with managements and boards of undervalued public companies.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, as defined in the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on the Company's current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections about the Company and its industry. These forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "will," "project," "seek," "should" and similar expressions. Such statements include, among other things, management's beliefs, our strategic and operational plans, and our response to the letter to shareholders from Maguire Asset Management, LLC. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the outcome of the legal proceedings we have instituted against Ebix and any other legal proceedings that may be initiated against us and others, in connection with the termination of the pending merger agreement between us and Ebix; the effect that the termination of the merger agreement may have on the price of our ordinary shares, and our business, financial condition and results of operations; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; our ability to generate positive cash flow and the sufficiency of our operating cash flow to meet our liquidity needs; our future financial performance, including our revenue, cost of revenue, operating expenses and our ability to achieve and maintain profitability; the impact of increasing competition in the Indian travel industry and our expectations regarding the development of our industry and the competitive environment in which we operate; the slowdown in Indian economic growth and other declines or disruptions in the Indian economy in general and travel industry in particular, including disruptions caused by safety concerns, terrorist attacks, regional conflicts, pandemics and natural calamities, our ability to successfully negotiate our contracts with airline suppliers and global distribution system service providers and mitigate any negative impacts on our revenue that result from reduced commissions, incentive payments and fees we receive; the risk that airline suppliers (including our GDS service providers) may reduce or eliminate the commission and other fees they pay to us for the sale of air tickets; our ability to pursue strategic partnerships and the risks associated with our business partners; the potential impact of recent developments in the Indian travel industry on our profitability and financial condition; political and economic stability in and around India and other key travel destinations; our ability to maintain and increase our brand awareness; our ability to realize the anticipated benefits of any past or future acquisitions; our ability to successfully implement our growth strategy; our ability to attract, train and retain executives and other qualified employees, including suitable replacements for any members of our senior management team or other employees who may seek other employment opportunities as a result of the certain cost reduction initiatives that we have taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; actions of activist shareholders; and our ability to successfully implement any new business initiatives. These and other factors are discussed in our reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All information provided in this press release is provided as of the date of issuance of this press release, and we do not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.
For more information, please contact:
Manish Hemrajani
Yatra Online, Inc.
VP, Head of Corporate Development and Investor Relations
ir@yatra.com
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