Sabre Corp. has announced that it has
entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Abacus International, a GDS
system prominent in the Asia-Pacific
region. Abacus
is currently owned by a consortia of 11 Asian airlines along with Sabre, which
has a 35% stake in the company.
Sabre will purchase the remaining
portion of Abacus for net cash consideration of $411 million.
“The Asia-Pacific travel
market is the largest and fastest growing in the world,” said Tom Klein, Sabre
President & CEO. “Acquiring Abacus immediately combines the global
capabilities of Sabre with the deep local market expertise of the leading
Asia-Pacific GDS. This powerful combination will give customers even more
innovation and service options, while allowing Sabre to accelerate growth globally
in a very capital efficient way – and to gain regional synergies in all three
of our businesses serving travel agents, airlines and hospitality companies.”
Abacus International President & CEO, Robert
Bailey added, “With our extended network in Asia Pacific, Abacus has built a
trusted brand of unique significance and scale. We now have the opportunity to
take the business forward even faster, broadening the scope within the Sabre
family and with the support of our shareholder carriers. This is great news for
the industry in Asia Pacific, and we look forward to passing the benefits of
integration to all sectors of this region’s diverse travel community.”
Abacus serves more than
100,000 travel agents across the Asia-Pacific region’s 59 markets and has both
global and local relationships with airlines and hotels, including a
portfolio of low-cost content and Chinese airlines.
Separately, the acquisition
includes new long-term distribution agreements between Sabre and the 11 airline
owners of Abacus.
“We look forward to
continuing our long-term business relationships with our former partners in
Abacus, and our new agreements will provide benefits and confidence to travel
agents throughout the Asia-Pacific region for many years to come,” said Greg
Webb, President of Sabre Travel Network.
Abacus will operate as a
region of Sabre Travel Network, and Sabre expects its expanded Asia Pacific
direct presence will benefit Sabre Airline Solutions and Sabre Hospitality
Solutions, which already provide support to 78 airlines and thousands of hotels
throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Sabre also will continue its partnership to
provide technology services to INFINI, a local Japanese GDS.
Subject to regulatory
approvals and other closing conditions, the transaction is expected to close in
the 3rd quarter of 2015.
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