20 January 2010

Travelport: Time is right to float

LONDON - Travelport chief executive Jeff Clarke has scoffed at suggestions that Travelport was rushing its float to beat bigger rival Amadeus, which plans to raise Ã¢'š~¬3bn on the Spanish stock exchange in a deal that could value the group at Ã¢'š~¬8bn.

"That was not a consideration," he said.

Clarke told telegraph.co.uk that the Travelport float had been timed to coincide with the "cyclical recovery in the travel industry".

"This is a very resilient business," said Clarke, adding that trading had picked up in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Travelport plans to raise almost $2 billion through a listing on the London Stock Exchange.

The Galileo/Worldspan parent, which achieved earnings of more than $1.72 billion million in the first nine months of 2009, aims to complete the flotation in the first quarter of the year.

The company, which is 70 percent owned by private equity house Blackstone, recently scored an equity injection of $225 million from Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC), which will take 7.19pc of the enlarged group.

The company's other owners are Technology Crossover Ventures, One Equity Partners and the management. None of the owners are selling any shares.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœNew investors will be able to share in our future and we are delighted by the support GIC has already shown by committing in December to make a significant investment,Ã¢â¬~ said Clarke.