Travelport buys Dublin-based technology firm

Travelport has acquired Dublin-based Mobile Travel Technologies (MTT), a company that produces apps, mobile web and intelligent mobile messaging to make it easier for hotels, airlines, corporate travel management firms and travel agents to communicate with their customers.

Its clients include easyJet, Singapore Airlines, Saudia, BCD Travel, Capita Travel and Events and the LATAM Airlines Group.

Travelport said: "With its mobile travel platform and product set, it can enable travel companies to quickly launch high-end, engaging mobile services in a cost effective manner."  Services include mobile search, booking and check-in as well as products such as MTT Engage, which provides real-time, personalised messages and offers to customers, and MTT Concierge Live, which delivers a ‘day of travel’ experience via a traveller’s mobile device including live, contextual travel updates and airport guidance.

Travelport president and CEO Gordon Wilson said: "It is a natural extension of Travelport’s strategy of redefining travel commerce to have acquired, what we believe to be, the largest and most successful company focused on delivering sophisticated mobile services and apps to the travel industry. 

"Adding MTT as an expanded capability to our existing travel commerce platform extends our reach further, and at the higher value add end of the service spectrum for our airline, hotel, travel management company and travel agency clients.

"At the same time, MTT will benefit from the network effect of Travelport in terms of infrastructure, our relationships with additional prospective clients and access to our industry leading content."

MTT will be run as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Travelport, retaining existing CEO Gerry Samuels, along with his senior team.

Samuels added:  "Becoming part of the Travelport family will enable MTT to accelerate what we are already doing in the travel industry – bringing cutting edge mobile innovations to airlines and travel intermediaries so that they can better serve the end traveller with innovative and personalised mobile services that transform the travel experience.   

"MTT has experienced very significant growth as the market and demand for mobile travel has expanded and there is enormous potential to grow further.  Now with the support of a global industry leader such as Travelport, we will be even better placed to capitalise and expand into the considerable opportunities we see ahead of us."

Travelport’s acquisition of MTT follows other recent investments it has made as part of its ongoing strategy to redefine travel commerce, with a particular emphasis on the fast growing digital economy. 

These investments include Travel IT, a next generation German tour operator distribution system; Hotelzon, a hotel distribution company focused on enabling independent hotels to take part in the online corporate travel economy and Locomote, an Australian based corporate travel applications development company.

Travelport has also invested in, and expanded, eNett, a B2B electronic payments company.

The acquisition was funded from Travelport’s cash resources. It said it expects the acquisition to be neutral for its financial performance in 2015 and accretive in future years.

Travelport issued €14,400,000 in grants to 28 MTT executives, to be paid in the first quarter of 2018 in Travelport common shares based on MTT performance targets and other terms and conditions. 

Based on yesterday’s closing price of Travelport common shares and foreign exchange rate, assuming all of the awards are earned and paid, Travelport would deliver approximately 1,152,086 common shares to MTT executives in 2018.

The total number of Travelport common shares that are delivered to MTT executives will, however, be based upon the closing price and foreign exchange rate in 2018, as well as MTT performance and the other terms and conditions.