It was supposed to be a done deal. The number one player - Webjet.com.au - buying the number two player - Travel.com.au. But things are never easy.
The online version of the Australian is reporting that Travel.com.au has "received an unsolicited third party proposal". Travel.com.au has not said who but are quoted in the Australian as saying - "no assurance can be given that such party will proceed with an offer for the company". Here is the official filing document from Travel.com.au so at least you have me finally reporting something that it not just a rumour.
So - who could it be? Please speculate in the comments section. A large offline retailer maybe? An Australian media company?
Thanks to the interested reader that sent me this so quickly.
UPDATE - Webjet have come back with an announcement saying in effect that they are the only bidder on the table, have the full support of the Board and already have 19.9% of the stock (enough to block any other bid)
7 comments:
This is indeed good news! Someone thwarting the evil empire of Darth Clarke.
For my money its either Expedia (they failed once in Australia in 98/99 - second time ain't looking too good either) They need tvl.com's database to make a go of it - plus as reported in Travel Daily - they seem very interested in placing kiosks in major Sydney hotels - so we know they are trying to take a quasi "high street" position via a different channel that feeds into their online presence.
Then again I could be wrong and it could be someone from left field such as a motoring organisation? ;-)
maybe some white shoe people from XXXX country ? looking for a back door listing and los of focus yet again....
The Weekend Fin Review reported it to be AOT group I believe.
Though it would now appear to be Wotif. Which is VERY interesting.
http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,,22510970-15306,00.html
Wotif?
It's Wotif, for around 49.8m
What if it was Wotif?
http://images.wotif.com/data/asx_announcement/asx_announcement_605.pdf
Post a Comment