The Company Also Announces Extension of Its
Partnership Agreement with Etraveli Group
NORWALK,
Conn., Sept. 25, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Booking
Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: BKNG) today announced that it intends to
appeal the European Commission's recently announced decision to
prohibit the Company's acquisition of Etraveli Group, from CVC
Capital Partners ("CVC"), to the European courts.
The Company strongly believes the Commission is wrong on both
the facts of the case and the law applicable to this transaction,
which was cleared unconditionally by multiple competition
authorities, including the UK Competition & Markets Authority
and U.S. FTC. The Commission has fundamentally misconstrued
the highly competitive travel markets for flights and
accommodations, and its decision is an unexplainable departure from
the Commission's own Non-Horizontal Merger Guidelines, which are
legally binding on the Commission. The acquisition, which would
have combined two separate but complementary Europe-based businesses operating within
separate, highly competitive industries, would have delivered
tremendous benefits for consumers and partners by bringing more
options and competitive pricing. Booking Holdings regrets
very much the lack of convergence of the European Commission with
other major international enforcers on this pro-competitive
transaction.
The European Commission's decision does not alter Booking
Holdings' commitment to continue building its already growing and
successful flights offering at Booking.com, and providing increased
choice and transparency for consumers, as the company today also
announces an extension of an existing and long-standing commercial
partnership agreement between Booking.com and Etraveli Group
through at least December 2028.
While the acquisition would have allowed Booking.com to fully
harness all of Etraveli Group's capabilities and management team to
offer a better flights product and better deals for consumers
through, among other things, greater strategic and commercial
alignment and enhanced integration, the continued partnership with
Etraveli Group will further strengthen and accelerate Booking.com's
ongoing work to build a frictionless global flights offering, which
is already live in over 50 countries, and deliver even more value
to travelers.
"The European Commission's decision not only departs from
settled law and precedent but it deprives consumers of travel
options that they are entitled to have," said Booking Holdings'
Chief Executive Officer, Glenn
Fogel. "We are proud of the progress we are making in
providing a high quality flights product through our existing
commercial partnership with Etraveli Group. Today we are pleased to
announce an extension of that partnership through 2028, and as we
go forward together, our focus will continue to be on advancing the
creation of a better, more flexible consumer travel experience that
provides more value to customers and partners."
About Booking Holdings
Booking Holdings
(NASDAQ: BKNG) is the world's leading
provider of online travel and related services, provided to
consumers and local partners in more than 220 countries and
territories through six primary consumer-facing brands:
Booking.com, Priceline,
Agoda, Rentalcars.com, KAYAK
and OpenTable. The mission of Booking Holdings
is to make it easier for everyone to experience the world. For more
information, visit BookingHoldings.com and follow
us on Twitter @BookingHoldings.
About Etraveli Group
Etraveli Group
(ETG), headquartered in Sweden, is a global technology provider for
Flights focused on offering the best possible flight content
delivered through flexible tech solutions, to the consumer and any
company facing the consumer. Through consumer brands like
Gotogate, Mytrip, Flightnetwork and
through global partnerships with the likes of Google
Flights, Skyscanner, Kayak, Booking.com
and others ETG provides search, book and
fulfillment services of Flights and related products. The Group
also operates the airline integration company
TripStack and metasearch engine
Flightmate (Flygresor.se). ETG has
around 2300 employees with offices in Sweden, Greece, Canada, India
and Uruguay..
About CVC Capital Partners
CVC is a leading private
equity and investment advisory firm with a network of 25 offices
throughout EMEA, the Americas and Asia, with approximately €161 billion of
assets under management. CVC has six complementary strategies
across private equity, secondaries and credit, for which we have
secured commitments in excess of €200 billion from some of the
world's leading institutional investors across its private equity,
credit and secondaries strategies. Funds managed or advised by CVC
are invested in over 125 companies worldwide, which have combined
annual sales of approximately €130 billion and employ more than
450,000 people. For further information about CVC please visit:
www.cvc.com. Follow us on LinkedIn.
Source: Booking Holdings
#BKNG_Corporate
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SOURCE Booking Holdings