KOCHI: IBS Software Services Pvt Ltd, the Thiruvananthapuram-headquartered software products company, will list its shares on the Nasdaq stock exchange of the US in 2021, V K Mathews, its founder and executive chairman, said here on Thursday.When it happens, IBS Software will be the first company from Kerala to list its shares in the US via an initial public offering (IPO). The software company, which completes 20 years in business this year, has grown to become a 3,000-employee firm having 30 nationalities and presence in 25 global locations.
Mathews said the IPO was earlier planned for 2016, but the initial share offering was postponed to 2021 after the company received $170 million (`1,200 crore) investments from Blackstone, the world’s largest private equity fund.“We have given five years for the capital (Blackstone’s investment) to appreciate - to achieve the next level of growth for the company,” Mathews told reporters.
IBS Software’s new product iTravel, a new platform “redefining the future of travel”, will be ready by 2019. “We have invested thousands of crores in this new product,” Mathews said. The IPO will come at a time when the new product will take the company to the next level, he said. The company has over 200 active customers, including 10 of the 20 largest airlines/airline group (British Airways, Cathay Pacific, China Eastern, Emirates, KLM Lufthansa, Qantas etc); four of the five largest oil companies in the world (British Petroleum, Chevron, Conoco Philips and Shell); over 80 of the largest hotel chains and 30 travel suppliers in the world (Hyatt, Marriott, Inter Continental, Starwood), and 70 per cent of the air cargo movement in and out of Japan and Australia, he said.Over the past 20 years, IBS Software has acquired six overseas companies. Over 7,000 plus person-years have been invested to build 17 large software products.
The company’s vision is to become the number 1 enterprise software company for the air transportation industry in the next 10 years. He reckoned the company to be in the third position in terms of market share. He said the company’s aim was to emerge as a one-stop-shop for all areas of the travel business.