Kiwi.com enters advanced stages of sale process
Kiwi.com, a Czech airline ticket search engine, is in the advanced stages of a sale to an undisclosed buyer, a source close and two sources briefed on the situation said. An agreement on a sale could be reached later this month, the source close said, declining to name the party involved.
Czech newspaper Hospodarske Noviny reported in December that the company was up for sale after receiving knocks on the door from potential buyers, including Norwalk, Connecticut-based The Priceline Group [NASDAQ: PCLN] as well as funds based in Silicon Valley and China.
Priceline is seen as the frontrunner in the current process, one of the sources briefed said. Priceline operates through brands Booking.com, Priceline.com, KAYAK, Agoda.com, Rentalcars.com, and OpenTable.
Priceline did not respond to a request for comment.
A formal auction process is expected to follow if talks fall through with the undisclosed buyer, the second source briefed said.
Kiwi.com CEO and co-founder Oliver Dlouhy told Mergermarket this week that he will retain the vast majority of his 24.5% stake. The stake sale will not affect Kiwi.com’s growth plans, which include expanding into new product offerings such as direct flights, ground transport and hotel accommodation, as well as potential acquisitions in South America and China, he added.
Other shareholders in the business include co-founders Jiri Hlavenka and Jozef Kepesi, Touzimsky Kapital, Impulse Capital and Sugilit Invest.
According to the previous Hospodarske Noviny report, all shareholders had agreed to a sale and had several preliminary offers on the table ranging from CZK 10bn to CZK 15bn (EUR 390.4m to EUR 585.5m).
Kiwi.com, previously known as Skypicker.com, is likely to be valued between EUR 400m and EUR 500m in the event of a deal, the source close said. The company is still an early stage business but is uniquely positioned given that its profit margins are above the market average of single-digit figures, the first source briefed said. Its valuation is partly based on its proprietary technology, he added.
Kiwi had revenues of EUR 100m and EBITDA of EUR 9m on gross ticket sales of EUR 700m for the FY16. The company expects revenue to grow between 50% and 80% this year, the source close said.
The company topped the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 CE list of central and eastern Europe’s fastest growing technology companies last October, with a growth rate of 7,165% over the previous four years.
Kiwi.com declined to comment.