Freedom Holding Corp. Enters Into Agreement to Acquire Travel Platforms
April 24 2023 - 7:31AM
Business Wire
Acquisition of Aviata and Chocotravel Will
Bolster Online Services
Freedom Holding Corp. (Nasdaq: FRHC), a diversified
multi-national financial services firm, has entered into an
agreement to acquire the Aviata and Сhocotravel service platforms
from Chocofamily Holding LLP, the company announced today. The
acquisition, which is subject to certain conditions, is expected to
close before the end of the year.
Aviata/Chocotravel is one of the largest online travel agencies
in Kazakhstan. The purchase price is $32.3 million.
“We are building a full-fledged ecosystem of digital services
for our clients, so the acquisition of Aviata and Chocotravel
digital service platforms is a logical contribution to our group’s
development,” said Timur Turlov, Freedom CEO. “This integration
will allow us to interact with more than one million air travelers
in Kazakhstan, who are an economically active category of the
population. Through efficient communications with current customers
of these service platforms, Freedom will be able to achieve
significant synergies in attracting new customers to our banking
platform and to integrate the Aviata and Chocotravel services into
the payment system and insurance companies of our group.”
Freedom noted that there is a positive trend in air and rail
travel in Kazakhstan, both for domestic and international
destinations. During 2022, airlines in Kazakhstan flew 11 million
passengers, a record number for the country, which is 17% higher
than 2021.
“Last year, we revised Choco Holding Company’s strategy and
decided to focus only on delivery projects and business advertising
technology projects,” said Nikolai Mazentsev, Сhief Executive
Officer of Choco. “Since then, we have sold Lensmark.kz (an online
lens store) and ioka.kz (a payment system). Today we are pleased to
announce the sale of the Aviata and Chocotravel merged company.
This is a win-win deal. For us, this is an opportunity to redeem
100% of Choco’s private and public debt and to provide funds for
the further development of strategically important projects for
Choco. For Freedom, this is strengthening their ecosystem with a
strong product and with an active userbase totaling more than 1
million people.”
About Freedom Holding Corp. Freedom Holding Corp., a
Nevada corporation, is a financial services holding company
conducting retail financial securities brokerage, investment
research, investment counseling, securities trading, investment
banking and underwriting services, mortgages, insurance, and
consumer banking through its subsidiaries under the name of Freedom
Finance in Europe and Central Asia. Through its subsidiaries,
Freedom Holding Corp. employs more than 2,900 people and is a
professional participant in the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange, the
Astana International Exchange, the Ukrainian Exchange, the
Republican Stock Exchange of Tashkent, and the Uzbek Republican
Currency Exchange and is a member of the New York Stock Exchange
and the Nasdaq Stock Exchange.
Freedom Holding Corp. is headquartered in Almaty, Kazakhstan,
and has a presence through its subsidiaries in 14 countries,
including Cyprus, the United States, Uzbekistan, the United
Kingdom, and Germany.
Freedom Holding Corp.'s common shares are registered with the
United States Securities and Exchange Commission and are traded in
the United States on the Nasdaq Capital Market, operated by Nasdaq,
Inc.
To learn more about Freedom Holding Corp., visit
www.freedomholdingcorp.com.
About Choco Holding Company Choco Holding Company is one
of the largest IT companies in Kazakhstan, which started its
operations in 2011 by launching the first coupon service in
Kazakhstan, Chocolife.me. In 2012, they launched the Lensmark.kz
contact lens delivery service platform and Chocomart.kz online
hypermarket. In 2013, the holding company launched another project
- the country's first food delivery service from Chocofood.kz
restaurants. In 2014, the holding company's portfolio included the
air-rail ticket online sale project- Chocotravel.com. In 2017, the
holding company's portfolio was increased by the IDoctor.kz doctor
search service project. In 2018, there was the launch of the
Rakhmet service project, which changed its products and its name in
2021, and the application became known as Choco. In 2020, the
holding company launched the 15-minute ultra-fast food delivery
project - Choco Nearby, being an ultra-fast food delivery pioneer
in Kazakhstan. In 2021, Choco Delivery project (courier express
city delivery ) was launched, operating in all major cities of
Kazakhstan. In 2022, Choco merged all of its services into one
Choco superapp. Choco portfolio currently includes Chocofood.kz,
Chocolife.me, IDoctor.kz, Choco Nearby, Choco Delivery, Digital
Restaurants, Choco superapp.
Aviata.kz is a Kazakhstan online air-rail ticket-selling
platform, founded in 2013. In 2018, the company merged with
Chocotravel.com. In 2019, the Chocofamily holding company increased
its interest in the “Aviata/Chocotravel” merged company to
100%.
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