SOUTHLAKE, Texas & LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–July 20, 2005–Sabre
Holdings Corporation (NYSE:TSG) is pleased to announce that the
acquisition of lastminute.com plc (“lastminute”) by Travelocity Europe
Limited has completed. This means that the proposal to redeem
lastminute.com’s bonds is now unconditional and the bonds will be
redeemed on August 3, 2005. The acquisition price for the shares in
lastminute.com and the redemption price payable in respect of
lastminute.com’s bonds equates to an equity value of approximately GBP
577M (approximately $1,020M) and an enterprise value of approximately
GBP 584M (approximately $1,034M), including gross debt of
approximately GBP 79M (approximately $138M) and estimated cash at bank
in hand of approximately GBP 72M (approximately $125M).
“The addition of lastminute.com to the Sabre portfolio of travel
companies significantly extends our role as a travel retailer,” said
Sam Gilliland, president and CEO, Sabre Holdings. “It increases our
international points of sale and positions us as the leader in the
fast growing European online arena.”
“We’re thrilled to have Brent Hoberman, and the entire
lastminute.com team, become part of the Travelocity family,” said
Michelle Peluso, president and CEO of Travelocity. “I can’t think of
another company that shares such a deep rooted philosophy on both
inspiring travel and creating a comprehensive travel experience. We
expect this shared perspective, as well as our combined global
capabilities, to help lastminute.com continue its success in Europe,
and influence Travelocity worldwide.”
Brent Hoberman, CEO of lastminute.com has agreed to head up the
new larger organization, reporting to Michelle Peluso, president and
CEO of Travelocity. Damon Tassone, previously president of Travelocity
Europe, would report to Hoberman as Deputy CEO of the combined
business, lastminute.com COO Ian McCaig would expand his role to
become Group Managing Director for the company.
Hoberman commented, “This is a landmark day for lastminute.com. In
just seven years the business has grown from a simple idea into one of
Europe’s leading independent online travel and leisure companies.
“This deal marks the beginning of a new chapter in which we look
forward to becoming a leading player on the global stage. Being part
of Travelocity and Sabre Holdings not only gives us global reach but
enables us to offer a wider product-range to benefit our customers.”
He added: “While the Travelocity Europe and lastminute.com brands
offer a great cultural fit, there is also a natural synergy between
the two businesses in terms of product and regional expertise, laying
the foundations for a strong combined business which we intend to be a
leader in online travel worldwide.”
With the closing of the acquisition, lastminute.com will be the
lead brand for Travelocity in most of Europe, and is expected to
continue expanding. Travelocity will support multiple brands where it
makes sense, with the intent of sharing underlying infrastructure,
technology, and supply to drive cost savings. Some of the benefits the
companies expect to achieve include offering the wide range of
discounted hotels through Travelocity’s net rate hotel program to
lastminute.com customers, sharing best-in-class technology
capabilities globally, and providing expanded European travel options
for Travelocity customers over time. Additionally, Sabre Holdings’
agency partners may gain additional European travel options that are a
part of the lastminute.com portfolio.
Integration teams are evaluating all aspects of the businesses to
determine how to structure organizations, where the companies can take
advantage of each others’ technology and content, and where there are
cost savings. Within the coming weeks, joint teams will be laying out
plans to quickly execute on revenue and cost savings opportunities.
One of the near term revenue opportunities is sharing content. For
example:
-- Travelocity now has more than 20,000 merchant hotel
properties. As early as fall of this year, the companies
expect to begin offering Travelocity's hotel program to
lastminute.com customers, giving them many more options in the
U.S. lastminute.com's access to rich European hotel content
should add many more options to Travelocity's customers
worldwide over time.
-- Travelocity plans to offer holiday and hotel options from
lastminute.com to Travelocity.co.uk customers as early as this
fall.
-- Sabre Travel Network also expects to offer its network of
agency partners expanded European travel options as a result
of the acquisition, for example, Holiday Autos car hire (car
rental) products and lastminute.com holidays. This also
represents a new opportunity for lastminute.com supplier
partners.
Additional Detail
Sabre Holdings will discuss this transaction in greater detail
during the Webcast on its second quarter financial results on July 28,
2005.
About lastminute.com
lastminute.com, Europe’s leading independent online travel and
leisure group, operates directly in fourteen European countries and
participates in three international joint ventures, providing travel
and leisure inspirations and solutions to customers. At 31 March 2005
lastminute.com had over 9.8 million subscribers to its weekly
newsletter. The business is based on the idea of matching supply and
demand. lastminute.com offers consumers opportunities to acquire
airline tickets, hotel rooms, holidays (both self packaged and third
party packages), car hire, entertainment tickets, restaurant
reservations and food delivery, specialty services, gifts and
auctions.
Having completed 14 acquisitions in the past three years,
lastminute.com now owns and operates online brands including
holidayautos.com, travelprice.com, degriftour.com, travelselect.com,
travel4less.co.uk, eXhilaration.co.uk, medhotels.com,
first-option.co.uk, gemstonetravel.com, onlinetravel.com and
lastminute.de.
lastminute.com seeks to differentiate itself by packaging and
delivering products and services, such as restaurant reservations,
entertainment tickets and gifts, in convenient, novel and distinctive
ways. The company has been successful in developing a distinctive and
widely recognized brand, which is intended to communicate spontaneity
and a sense of adventure to a youthful target demographic.
lastminute.com was founded by Brent Hoberman and Martha Lane Fox
in 1998. Brent Hoberman remains as CEO of the company which currently
employs approximately 2,000 people throughout Europe.
About Sabre Holdings
Sabre Holdings is a world leader in travel commerce, marketing
travel products and providing distribution and technology solutions
for the travel industry. Sabre Holdings operates in multiple travel
distribution channels: the travel agency channel, the consumer-direct
channel and the business-direct channel. Through the Sabre(R) global
distribution system, subscribers can access information about, and can
book reservations for, among other things, airline trips, hotel stays,
car rentals, cruises and tour packages. The Sabre Travel Network(TM)
business operates the global distribution system and markets and
distributes travel-related products and services through the travel
agency channel. Sabre Holdings engages in consumer-direct and
business-direct travel marketing and distribution through its
Travelocity(R) business (see below). In addition, the Sabre Airline
Solutions(TM) business is a leading provider of technology and
services, including development and consulting services, to airlines
and other travel providers.
About Travelocity
With millions of registered users and booking $4.9 billion of
travel in 2004, the Travelocity segment markets and distributes
travel-related products and services directly to individuals,
including leisure travelers and business travelers, through
Travelocity websites and contact centers, and websites owned by its
supplier and distribution partners. Travelocity customers can access
offerings, pricing and information about airlines, hotels, car rental
companies, cruise lines, vacation and last-minute travel packages and
other travel-related services. For business travelers, the Travelocity
Business(SM) online corporate travel agency provides the integrated
online corporate travel technology and full-service offering of our
GetThere(R) product along with the online expertise of Travelocity.
Statements in this disclosure which are not purely historical
facts or which necessarily depend upon future events, including
statements about the anticipated benefits of the proposed transaction
to Sabre Holdings Corporation or other statements about anticipations,
beliefs, expectations, hopes, intentions or strategies for the future,
may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Readers are cautioned
not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. All
forward-looking statements are based upon information available to
Sabre Holdings Corporation on the date this report was submitted.
Sabre Holdings Corporation undertakes no obligation to publicly update
or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise. Any forward-looking
statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual
events or results to differ materially from the events or results
described in the forward-looking statements, including risks or
uncertainties inherent in the integration of the acquired business
(such as ensuring the effectiveness of the design and operation of the
internal and disclosure controls of the business to be acquired), in
securing long-term financing for the proposed transaction, or in
competition within the European marketplace from established or
emerging competitors. Sabre Holdings Corporation may not succeed in
addressing these and other risks. Further information regarding
factors that could affect our financial and other results can be found
in the risk factors section of Sabre Holdings Corporation’s most
recent filing on Form 10-Q with the Securities and Exchange
Commission.
CONTACT: Vollmer Public Relations (for Travelocity)
Media Relations:
Judy Haveson, 212-808-6541
judy@vollmerpr.com
or
Travelocity
Joel Frey, 682-605-2178
joel.frey@travelocity.com
or
Investor Relations:
Sabre Holdings
Karen Fugate, 682-605-2343
karen.fugate@sabre-holdings.com
SOURCE: Sabre Holdings Corporation