Sabre Purchases Lastminute.com

Sabre Inc. reached an agreement last month to acquire lastminute.com for an estimated $1.1 billion. Sabre said the addition of lastminute.com, with its well-established consumer brands, is expected to provide Sabre’s Travelocity unit with greater scale and the leading position in the growing European online travel marketplace.

The acquisition will be made by Travelocity Europe Limited, an indirect subsidiary of Sabre Holdings established for the purpose of the acquisition. “The anticipated acquisition of lastminute.com directly supports Sabre’s strategy of extending our role as a travel retailer focusing on merchandising content, packages, and growing our international points of sale, while broadening the products and services we offer to all customers through our travel distribution platform,” said Sam Gilliland, chairman, president and CEO of Sabre Holdings. “We’re extremely pleased with the prospect of having lastminute.com, with its highly-regarded brands and well-established customer base, as a part of Travelocity, including Travelocity Europe.

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 online travel and leisure bookings. The company 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.