TUI's Hotelbeds unit may go to Kuoni buyer, possibly EQT
Tui, the listed German travel company, looks more likely to make a profitable sale of subsidiary Hotelbeds in light of a possible acquisition of Swiss rival Kuoni, Handelsblatt reported.
Kuoni was cited as saying it is in early-stage talks with several interested buyers. The newspaper noted unconfirmed information from the newswire Bloomberg that the most likely buyer is Swedish investment firm EQT Partners.
The newspaper said the buyer of Kuoni might be a likely buyer of Hotelbeds, which Tui Chief Executive Fritz Joussen recently said might be sold.
According to the newspaper, such a deal may make sense because Hotelbeds, which has annual turnover of EUR 4.3bn, offers the same services as Kuoni, being an online hotel and trip booking agency.
Kuoni's hotel bed agency, Global Travel Distribution (GTD), has been valued by Zuercher Kantonalbank experts at about EUR 650m. The newspaper said Morgan Stanley analysts reckon Hotelbeds is likely to sell for EUR 750m.
The newspaper said Joussen declined to comment on whether there have been talks on selling Hotelbeds to EQT. He did say that notable private equity firms have delcared their interest in the business to the advisors on the possible sale, Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank.
Handelsblatt