Amadeus has agreed to acquire TravelClick from Thoma Bravo, a leading private equity investment firm, for US$1.52bn.
TravelClick, which is headquartered in New York City, is a leading global hospitality provider that serves more than 25,000 customers across 176 countries. It provides innovative cloud-based solutions, including an independent and mid-size hotel Central Reservation System (CRS) and Guest Management Solution (GMS), as well as business intelligence and media solutions. This portfolio gives hotels distribution reach across all channels, both digital and traditional. It also allows them to improve digital interaction with guests, increase revenues and performance, reduce cost and create a strong brand.
The addition of TravelClick’s solutions to the Amadeus portfolio will create a hospitality leader providing a broad range of innovative technology to hotels and chains of all sizes across the globe.
“TravelClick has a great team, great technology and a broad customer base, and we are looking forward to welcoming such a successful business into Amadeus,” said Luis Maroto, President and CEO of Amadeus. “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. The combination of our two portfolios will allow us to provide that to hotels of all shapes and sizes across the world.”
“This deal marks the next stage in TravelClick’s incredible journey of success in delivering groundbreaking solutions for hoteliers,” said Larry Kutscher, CEO of TravelClick. “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.”
“This is a huge step forward for Amadeus in hospitality,” said Francisco Perez-Lozao, senior vice president Strategic Growth Businesses at Amadeus. “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.”
“TravelClick is an excellent example of Thoma Bravo’s proven investment approach of acquiring a best in class vertical market software company and working alongside talented leadership to implement operational best practices and drive growth both organically and through M&A,” said Holden Spaht, a managing partner at Thoma Bravo. “We appreciate the outstanding execution of Larry Kutscher and the management team at TravelClick, and believe the company is well positioned to continue delivering innovative software, data analytics and marketing services that maximize revenue for hotels around the world.”
As part of the acquisition, approximately 1,100 TravelClick employees are expected to join Amadeus.
Amadeus and Thoma Bravo expect to close the acquisition in the fourth quarter of the calendar year 2018, following regulatory approvals. The transaction will be debt-financed and immediately earnings accretive.
