UPDATE: Deutsche Bank Reiterates On Ctrip.com On Solidified Partnership With PLCN

In a report published Thursday, Deutsche Bank analyst Vivian Hao reiterated a Buy rating on

, and raised the price target from $73.00 to $80.00. In the report, Deutsche Bank noted, “Ctrip and Priceline announced today an extended partnership (previously, in Aug 2012, the two forged a arms-length agreement under which Ctrip users can access Booking.com's global portfolio of over 235,000 participating hotels through Ctrip's platform). The two will 1) open up significantly enlarged complimentary hotel inventory mutually and 2) enjoy member only preferential price mutually and 3) cross-promote each other's related travel services, such as OpenTable and car rental. For this new partnership, Priceline can take up to a 10% stake in Ctrip (USD500m private CB placement+ open-market share purchase over the next 12mths). Ctrip mgmt indicated the conversion price for this tranche of CB is over $80 (vs $78.4 for the last CB offering in Oct 2013). As such, maximum dilution to current shareholders will be limited to ~5%.” Ctrip.com closed on Wednesday at $60.45.