Sabre books a £577 million Lastminute.com one way ticket |
|
|
Published
:
Fri, 13 May 2005 10:35
|
Owner of the online travel business, Travelocity.com, Sabre Holdings Inc, has decided to buy the European e-travel company, Lastminute.com for £577 million ($1.08 billion). This acquisition will make Sabre the largest online travel service in Europe.
Lastminute.com has travel operations in 14 countries in Europe and provides airline tickets, holiday tour packages, hotel rooms, car rentals along with other miscellaneous services related to travel.
Sabre has offered to pay 165 pence for a share of Lastminute.com estimating the firms valuation at £577 million ($1.08 billion). The takeover news sent shares in lastminute.com soaring 45% this week. Sabre expects to diversify and expand its international business structure by widening its range of products and services through this acquisition.
| Sam Gilliland, chairman, president and chief executive of Sabre Holdings, spoke about the deal saying, "We're extremely pleased with the prospect of having lastminute.com, with its highly-regarded brands and well-established customer base, as a part of Travelocity, including Travelocity Europe. We expect this combination would provide us greater opportunity to profit from the fast-growing European online segment."
Lastminute.com had been receiving takeover offers for the past five years but Sabre’s bid seems to be the first substantial one ever since. However, there seem to be other potential suitors as well in the bidding battle for the group and Lastminute.com chairman, Brian Collie is making no bones about it.
At a conference call, he candidly stated, "We can't rule in or out any potential other bids. If anyone else wants to make a bid, they know the process they need to go through, and we will consider any such offers very carefully. There's nothing to prevent us recommending shareholders accepting a better offer if one materializes."
Even though Sabre’s offer has been agreed upon by Lastminute.com’s board, approval of shareholders is still awaited. The other two bidders for Lastminute.com’s acquisition could be the world’s leading Internet travel agency, Expedia of IAC/InterActiveCorp, or the second biggest travel operator, Cendant Corp. it was possible that both these firms could make use of ‘potential cost-savings’ to bid higher.
Robin Chabbra, an analyst at Evolution Securities in London, said that investors would refrain from selling since "there is rationale for others to come in with a counter-bid - possibly based on cost-savings. Sabre’s bid is fair but not generous. The scale and brand strength of Lastminute could lead to a fresh offer of up to 200p."
However, if the deal with Sabre consummates successfully, it is supposed that the present chief executive of Lastminute.com, Brent Hoberman, will rein as the chief executive of the merged Lastminute.com and Sabre’s Travelocity European operations. He will be accountable to the president and chief executive of Travelocity, Michelle Peluso.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Print this Story
