Amadeus Worldspan merger speculation

:: Travel Weekly ::

"Speculation about an Amadeus Worldspan merger resumed after a company with ties to Worldspan emerged as one of four bidders for a controlling stake in Amadeus. The airline owners of Amadeus appear to be on a fast track to sell a controlling stake in the company and recently received bids from private equity firms Citigroup Venture Capital Equity Partners (U.S.) , the Carlyle Group with Citigroup Venture Capital (Europe), Cinven Group and BC Partners. According to the Wall Street Journal Monday, Cinven and BC Partners teamed to present a new bid Sunday. Musings about an Amadeus-Worldspan marriage come because CVC U.S., along with Teachers' Merchant Bank, created the company that bought Worldspan from Northwest, Delta and American. One industry insider said that if CVC is the winning bidder, it "definitely 100%" would merge Amadeus and Worldspan. He added that Worldspan over the years has conducted detailed planning on how to merge its operations with Amadeus. "CVC didn't get what it wanted out of Worldspan given that the initial public offering failed," the source said. "The only way for CVC to capture the true value of both entities is to tie them together."