Ctrip.com worldwide, Ltd. (ADR), Qunar Cayman Islands Ltd, Baidu Inc

Chinese online travel company Ctrip.com worldwide Ltd on Monday announced a tie-up with rival Qunar Cayman Islands Ltd and its backer Baidu Inc through a share swap, to tap the rising number of Chinese travelers heading overseas. In terms of shareholding, Baidu will have around 178,702,519 Class A ordinary shares and 11,450,000 Class B ordinary shares of its ownership interest in Ctrip.com. Baidu said its also expects to continue its existing business activities with Qunar. The stock, which has a 52-week range of $40.74 - $87.62, has gained 64.76% value year-to-date.

International, Ltd. are gaining by 18.54% to $86.61 in pre-market trading on Monday morning.

Such mergers are becoming increasingly common in China's tech sector as a way of dealing with fierce competition between rival companies. In the past 52-weeks, the company shares have declined -23.99% and marked new low $100.00 on August 24, 2015. Ctrip.com will own roughly 45 percent of Qunar and Baidu will take a 25 percent stake in Ctrip.com.

Four representatives, including James Liang and Jane Sun, chairman and chief executive officer, and co-president and chief operating officer of Ctrip, respectively, have been appointed to Qunar's board of directors, and Robin Li and Tony Yip, chairman and chief executive officer, and vice president, head of investments, mergers and acquisitions of Baidu, respectively, have been appointed to Ctrip's board of directors. The exchange ratio is 1 Qunar ADS to 0.725 Ctrip ADSs.

Qunar is China's leading seller of airline tickets while Ctrip dominates hotel bookings.

Baidu and Ctrip also have agreed to cooperate across a broad base of products and services. Ctrip.com's CEO James Liang also believes that the deal will create greater customer value and strengthen the relationship between the companies' management and shareholders.