Ctrip.com International, Ltd., a leading travel service provider of accommodation reservation, transportation ticketing, packaged tours and corporate travel management in China (“Ctrip” or the “Company”), today announced that it signed a definitive agreement with the majority shareholders of Skyscanner Holdings Limited (“Skyscanner”), a leading global travel search site headquartered in Edinburgh, the United Kingdom, under which Ctrip will acquire all of such shareholders’ shares in Skyscanner and will offer to acquire shares from the remaining shareholders of Skyscanner. The terms of the acquisition value Skyscanner at approximately £1.4 billion and the purchase consideration consists of cash mainly, the remainder consisting of Ctrip ordinary shares and loan notes.
The boards of directors of the Company and Skyscanner have approved the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, and is expected to close by the end of 2016. Skyscanner’s current management team will continue to manage Skyscanner’s operations independently as part of the Ctrip group.
Skyscanner is a leading travel metasearch company that enables users to compare prices from hundreds of travel sites when searching for flights, hotels, and rental cars. It ranks as one of the top online travel brands based on search interest, serving 60 million monthly active users and available in over 30 languages. It has established leadership in Europe and a growing presence in APAC and the Americas.
“Skyscanner is one of the largest travel search platforms in the world,” said James Jianzhang Liang, co-founder and Executive Chairman of Ctrip. “We are excited to welcome Skyscanner into the Ctrip group. Ctrip and Skyscanner share the same passion and dedication in providing travelers around the world with better services. This acquisition will strengthen long-term growth drivers for both companies. Skyscanner will complement our positioning at a global scale, and we will leverage our experience, technology and booking capabilities to help Skyscanner.”
“Ctrip is the clear market leader in China and a company we can learn a huge amount from,” said Gareth Williams, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Skyscanner. “Today’s news takes Skyscanner one step closer to our goal of making travel search as simple as possible for travelers around the world. Ctrip and Skyscanner share a common view – that organizing travel has a long way to go to being solved. To do so requires powerful technology and a traveler-first approach. In taking the next step to achieving our goal, Skyscanner will remain operationally independent and our growing global team will continue to innovate and deliver the products travelers know and love. It’s an exciting time for our business, our partners and the travelers who use us.”