Betaville Intelligence

Prosiebensat1 said to have hired Goldman Sachs for EURO 500 million sale of digital travel agent - sources

German broadcasting giant Prosiebensat1 has appointed investment bankers to work on a potental sale of online travel agent Etraveli.

Sources familiar with the matter said Prosiebesat1 has asked Goldman Sachs run a potential auction, which may include a disposal of all or part of Etraveli.

According to one source, Goldman Sachs has already prepared a short information memorandum on Etraveli for potential buyers containing some financial information.

Proseibensat1 said at its annual results in February that it was examining "strategic options" for its travel business, which includes websites such as mydays and weg.de.

Observers, though, were surprised Prosiebensat1 is considering a sale of Etraveli given the German broadcaster only bought the Nordic-focused digital travel agent in 2015 for EURO 235 million from private equity firm Segulah.

People close to the situation said Proseibensat1 is also looking at selling other units of its travel business although its not clear which ones have been targeted for disposal.

Sources familiar with the situation said Etraveli is estimated to make around EURO 40 million of EBITDA, so the company could be sold for between EURO 400 million and EURO 500 million.

A potential sale of Etraveli comes as several other travel companies have changed hands in recent months. Tui, for example, last month sold Travelopia to private equity firm KKR for £325 million.

Companies from China, such as HNA, have also looked at buying at assets in the sector, including travel services group Hotelbeds. Hotelbeds, though, was eventually sold last year by Tui AG to Cinven and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board for $1.3 billion.

Prosiebensat1 declined to comment...

Date: Friday, 10 March 2017, 4:37 pm

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