The acquisition of the Swedish flight-centric online travel agency, whose brands include Gotogate, Flightnetwork, and Mytrip, will complement Booking’s efforts to develop a seamless global flights offering
Flight booking provider Etraveli Group to be acquired by Booking. (Credit: nickyhardinguk from Pixabay)
Booking has agreed to acquire Etraveli Group, a Sweden-based flight booking provider, for around €1.63bn from funds managed by CVC Capital Partners.
According to the US-based online travel and related services provider, the acquisition of Etraveli will complement its efforts to develop a seamless global flights offering.
The flight booking technology provider is already a partner of Booking and helps the latter power its existing flight product.
Etraveli’s consumer brands include Gotogate, Flightnetwork, and Mytrip. Apart from Booking.com, the company has partnerships with Skyscanner, Google Flights, and Kayak for whom it offers search, booking, and fulfilment services of flights and related products.
The Swedish firm also operates TripStack, which is a Canadian airline integration company.
Etraveli was acquired in 2017 by CVC Capital Partners for a price of over €500m. Since then, the company had acquired e-Travel, a Greece-based online travel agency, and TripStack.
Etraveli CEO Mathias Hedlund said: “Booking Holdings pioneered the travel space more than two decades ago and they continue to pave the path forward by developing solutions to create seamless travel experiences.
“We have had a fantastic time together with our current owner CVC, establishing Etraveli Group as a global provider of attractive flight options at affordable prices. Today is a day of recognition, as well as marking a new phase in our relentless urge to improve further.”
Post-acquisition, Etraveli will continue to be based in Sweden and operate as a standalone business under Booking. It will also continue to be steered by its existing management team.
Booking CEO Glenn Fogel said: “As international air travel rebounds from the impact of the pandemic, we look forward to building upon our existing relationship with Etraveli Group to make the travel booking experience easier and more seamless to support our partners and customers.”
Booking is a travel technology company that owns consumer-facing brands such as Booking.com, Agoda, Priceline, KAYAK, Rentalcars.com, and OpenTable. Through the brands, the company’s services are offered to local partners and consumers across more than 220 countries and territories.
The deal is subject to regulatory approval and certain other closing conditions.