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PARSIPPANY, NJ-Cendant Corp. has completed the sale of its Travelport subsidiary, with an affiliate of the New York-based Blackstone Group picking up the travel services company for $4.3 billion. The sale agreement was announced at the end of June and took less than 60 days to close, officials of both companies point out.

"There are a number of opportunities for Travelport as we continue to leverage our portfolio of assets, our products and services," says Jeff Clarke, Travelport's president/CEO, in a prepared statement. "As an independent company, we look forward to growing and strengthening our position in the travel industry."

"Clearly, the travel industry is driven by consumer demographics and rapidly growing new markets like China and India," says Blackstone senior managing director Chip Schorr. "In that context, we expect Travelport's recognized brands, reach and local expertise to continue to bolster it as a relevant company in the industry."

For that $4.3 billion, the Blackstone affiliate picks up such brands as Orbitz, Galileo and Gullivers Travel Associates (GTA). According to data released by Travelport, the company has 8,000 employees in 130 countries; provides access to more than 425 airlines, 75,000 hotels, 28,000 car rental locations and 7,500 tourist attractions; and connects to 52,000 travel agency locations.

As a subtext to Blackstone's acquisition of Travelport, the private equity firm has also agreed to sell a 14% share of the entity to Technology Crossover Ventures, according to officials of the firm. The acquisition of Travelport is the largest investment involving the technology sector for Blackstone, which is currently investing its fifth general private equity fund with commitments of $15.6 billion.

For Cendant, the sale follows the spin-offs of the company's real estate (Realogy Corp.) and hospitality (Wyndham Worldwide) businesses at the end of July. What's left of Cendant is its car rental business, and shareholders are scheduled to vote on Aug. 29 on whether to rename and company Avis Budget Group Inc., reflecting the company's brands. If passed, the action would effectively retire the Cendant name. A one-for-10 reverse stock split is also on the docket for the shareholders meeting.

The net proceeds of the Travelport sale, meanwhile, will be distributed to Realogy and Wyndham after certain debts, taxes, fees and expenses are paid off. Realogy will get approximately $1.4 billion, and Wyndham approximately $760 million, according to company officials.

Instant Insights /

Cendant Completes $4B Sale of Travelport

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