Despegar.com goes public on NYSE, raises $332M
Latin America’s leading online travel company Despegar.com (NYSE:DESP) went public on Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.
During an interview with FOX Business’ Ashley Webster of Varney & Co., Despegar CEO Damian Scokin discussed how he plans to compete with big travel companies such as Priceline (NASDAQ:PCLN).
“We cater to the Latin American consumer through very tailored offering not only of specific destinations and packages, but also through payment methods that are very particular in each Latin American country,” he said.
Despegar.com, which offers airline tickets, packages and other travel-related products, raised $332 million by offering 12.8 million shares at $26. The stock opened at $29.00, hitting a high of $32.63 on its first day of trading.
According to Scokin, business is going well so far this year.
"The first half of 2017 shows booking growing over 40%, revenues over 28% so the overall market is doing pretty good,” he said.