SINGAPORE /PRNewswire/ -- Sabre Corporation (NASDAQ: SABR)
today announced that it has completed the acquisition
of Abacus
International, the leading global distribution system
(GDS) in the Asia Pacificregion.
"The
addition of Abacus further strengthens Sabre's leading position in
the fast-growing Asia Pacific region," said Sabre President &
CEO Tom
Klein. "Our ability to combine Sabre's strong global
technology platform capabilities with Abacus' deep local market
expertise will provide Asia Pacific airline, hospitality and travel agency
customers with unprecedented innovation and service options. It
also makes us an ideal technology partner for global customers
seeking to grow and expand in Asia Pacific."
Abacus
serves more than 100,000 travel agents across the Asia Pacific region's 59 markets and has both global
and uniquely local relationships with airlines and hotels,
including the leading portfolio of low-cost airline content and
Chinese airline content.
Sabre,
which previously owned 35% of Abacus, acquired the remaining
portion for net cash consideration of $411 million.
Separately, the acquisition includes new long-term distribution
agreements between Sabre and the 11 Asian airlines that previously
shared ownership of Abacus with Sabre.
The
acquisition, including associated working capital adjustments and
cash acquired, was financed through cash on hand, augmented by
revolver borrowings of $70
million.
Sabre has
also signed an agreement to acquire Abacus national marketing
company, Abacus Distribution Systems (Hong
Kong).
Sabre
management will update financial guidance as it relates to the
Abacus acquisition during the company's next earnings conference
call, which is scheduled for Tuesday, August 4, 2015.
About the
Company
Sabre Corporation is a leading technology provider to the
global travel and tourism industry. Sabre's software, data, mobile
and distribution solutions are used by hundreds of airlines and
thousands of hotels to manage vital operations, such as passenger
and guest reservations, revenue management, and flight, network and
crew management. Sabre also operates the world's leading travel
marketplace, processing more than $110 billion of annual travel spend.
Headquartered in Southlake, Texas, USA, Sabre operates in approximately 60
countries around the world.
Website
Information
We
routinely post important information for investors on our
website, www.sabre.com, in the Investor
Relations section. We intend to use this website as a means of
disclosing material, non-public information and for complying with
our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Accordingly,
investors should monitor the Investor Relations section of our
website, in addition to following our press releases, SEC filings,
public conference calls, presentations and webcasts. The
information contained on, or that may be accessed through, our
website is not incorporated by reference into, and is not a part
of, this document.
Forward-looking
statements
Certain statements in this release are forward-looking statements
about trends, future events, uncertainties and our plans and
expectations of what may happen in the future. Any statements that
are not historical or current facts are forward-looking statements.
In many cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms
such as "will," "expect," "would," "estimates," "may," "potential"
or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology.
Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that may cause Sabre's actual
results, performance or achievements to be materially different
from any future results, performances or achievements expressed or
implied by the forward-looking statements. The potential risks and
uncertainties include, among others, the closing and effects of the
acquisition described in this release, dependency on transaction
volumes in the global travel industry, particularly air travel
transaction volumes, adverse global and regional economic and
political conditions, dependence on maintaining and renewing
contracts with customers and other counterparties,
exposure to pricing pressure in the Travel Network business,
dependence on relationships with travel buyers, changes affecting
travel supplier customers, travel suppliers' usage of alternative
distribution models, and competition in the travel distribution
market and solutions markets. More information about
potential risks and uncertainties that could affect our business
and results of operations is included in Part I, Item 1A, "Risk
Factors" in Sabre's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year
ended December 31, 2014 filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission. Although we believe that the
expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are
reasonable, we cannot guarantee future events, results, actions,
levels of activity, performance or achievements. Readers are
cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking
statements. Unless required by law, Sabre undertakes no obligation
to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to
reflect circumstances or events after the date they are made.
Media
Contact:
Pam Wong
+447-968-902-626
[email protected]
Investor
Relations Contact:
Barry Sievert
+1-682-605-0214
[email protected]