Travel technology giant Amadeus is buying TravelClick, which offers marketing and revenue generating solutions for hoteliers, from private equity firm Thoma Bravo for US1.52 billion.
Thoma Bravo acquired TravelClick in 2014 from venture capital firm Genstar for US$930 million.
The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2018, following regulatory approvals. The transaction will be debt-financed and immediately earnings accretive.
Amadeus said the addition of TravelClick’s solutions to its portfolio would significantly expand its presence in the hospitality sector with a broad range of innovative technology to hotels and chains of all sizes across globally.
TravelClick, headquartered in New York, provides cloud-based solutions including hotel central reservations systems, guest management solution, business intelligence and media solutions to mid-chain and independent hotels.
The company has more than 25,000 customers in 176 cities globally, among them hotels chains including InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), Kempinski, Langham, Anantara Hotels & Resorts, Hilton, Marriott and Millennium.
As part of the deal about 1,100 TravelClick employees will join Amadeus.
TravelClick serves hotels in 176 cities globally. (Image credit: TravelClick)
“Our ambition is to provide the hospitality industry with the tools they need to grow their businesses and deliver a great experience to their guests,” Luis Maroto, president and CEO of Amadeus, said in a statement. “The combination of our two portfolios will allow us to provide that to hotels of all shapes and sizes across the world.”
Francisco Perez-Lozao, senior vice president of strategic growth businesses at Amadeus, described the acquisition as “a huge step forward for Amadeus in hospitality”.
“While we have already made strong progress with the large chains, TravelClick gives us access to the mid-chain and independent hotel segment that makes up almost three-quarters of the market. We can now serve the entire industry with a very broad portfolio of solutions and we are looking for significant growth in the years ahead.”
Commenting on the deal TravelClick CEO, Larry Kutscher, said: “I couldn’t be more proud of our team or more excited about the impact our combined companies will have on the hospitality industry as we begin to deliver the next generation of innovation for hoteliers.”
• Featured image credit: Explora_2005/iStock-GettyImages
