Cendant buys two leading names in travel industry
Two leading names in the travel industry were today bought for $1.1bn (€822,900) – the second major UK deal by US giant Cendant this month.
The acquisition of Gullivers Travel Associates and Octopus Travel Group comes just a fortnight after a £209m (€304.4m) offer for online travel specialist ebookers was announced.
Both deals are designed to strengthen Cendant’s foothold in Europe, while Gullivers also opens up the potentially lucrative market of Japan and boosts its position in China.
Gullivers was founded in 1975 and offers packages and organised trips to travel agents, tour operators and consumers.
About 700 of its global workforce of 2,400 staff are based at its headquarters in London, with international offices located in cities such as Riyadh, Beijing and Geneva.
Octopus Travel sells hotel and destination services directly to consumers through its website OctopusTravel.com as well as via third parties such as low-cost airlines.
It is not known who owns the companies, but the founding trio of David Babai, Eddie Faith and Uzi Kattan are still directors of the Gullivers board.
Mr Babai is expected to remain with the company as chairman along with other key members of the management team.
“I have no doubt the partnership with Cendant will create a new and formidable force in the travel distribution business, which will change the force of tourism as we know it,” Mr Babai said.
Cendant – the owner of the Days Inn and Avis car rental brands – has agreed to raise its purchase price if the financial performance of Gullivers beats expectations in 2005.
Regulatory approval would see the deals for Gullivers and Octopus completed in April 2005.
New-York based Cendant currently employs about 90,000 staff and provides services in more than 100 countries.
