The Canadian investment firm MPH Ventures Corp. recently completed a deal for a 20 percent share of Travelucion, a leading tourism promotion company in the Cuban market.
MPH bought its share from a Travelucion shareholder for just under $76,000 in cash and 4 million shares of MPH.
Travelucion dominates the online market for promoting Cuban travel: It owns 432 web assets that promote more than 60 major tourist destinations in Cuba and accounts for more than 30 millions page views per year. With U.S.-Cuba relations thawing and investors and other travelers eager to find their way to Cuba, MPH is expecting the investment in online booking and tourism promotion for the country’s growing $2.6 billion tourism industry will pay off.
The normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba has already had profound effects on Travelucion’s growth. The company’s sales for each month in 2015 have increased as high as 428 percent from the same month last year.
MPH’s acquisition of its share in the travel company was funded partly through a private placement offering of its own stock. The company placed $359,500 worth of stock, including 1 million shares sold to Travelucion majority owner Steve Marshall who now owns a total of 5 million shares of MPH, approximately 15 percent of the company.
