Ctrip returned to the international equity markets on Thursday October 21 with a $42.63 million sale of secondary shares. The deal was well-timed, coming into a market with high earnings expectations from internet search engine Google and ahead of an IPO by rival operator eLong.
Under the lead of Merrill Lynch, also the IPO bookrunner a group of existing shareholders divested 6.6% of Ctrip's outstanding share capital in a 1.05 million ADR deal. The biggest vendor was the Carlyle group, which sold 350,000 shares.
Books were opened in Asia's morning Thursday at $40 to $40.75 per unit and closed just ahead of trading in the US later...