£200 million acquisition to be funded through capital raising.
Webjet has just announced a binding agreement to acquire JacTravel Group Holdings, a European B2B travel business which last year turned over 400 million pounds.
Webjet ceo John Guscic said the deal would be “transformational” for the WebBeds business, creating the number two B2B player globally. “JacTravel is highly complementary to WebBeds’ existing portfolio in terms of geography, product and customer mix, with an operating footprint that fills a key gap in our current offering, being Tier 1 European cities, whilst increasing the breadth and depth of WebBeds’ existing position across Asia, the Americas and Middle East”.
He said bringing JacTravel under the broader Webjet banner and leveraging its inventory into the WebBeds distribution network would also provide deepened room night allocations and opportunities to realise synergies.
The £200 million (A$330) acquisition price will be paid in cash and new Webjet shares, with the price representing 10.5 times FY2017 EBITDA. An Entitlement Offer will raise about $164 million, with the balance to be funded using $145 million of existing cash reserves and debt.
More details in tomorrow’s issue of Travel Daily.