Float me Amadeus

23 March 2010 By Alexander Smith

The Spanish travel bookings firm plans to raise 910 mln euros through an IPO. Amadeus has less debt and a better growth record than rival Travelport, which recently pulled its offering. Its private equity owners are already sure of stellar returns. They should not be too greedy.

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Context News

Amadeus IT Holding said on March 23 that it plans to seek a listing on the Spanish stock exchange during the first half of 2010.

The travel bookings and IT firm which was taken private in July 2005 at an enterprise value of 4.3 billion euros is planning to raise 910 million euros through a primary offering of shares, which will be used to cut debt. Current Amadeus shareholders, which include private equity groups BC Partners and Cinven, will also participate in a secondary offering.

Together, the two offerings will represent at least 25 percent of the company's share capital.

Amadeus, whose other shareholders are airlines Iberia, Lufthansa and Air France said its revenues were 2.46 billion euros in 2009 and EBITDA was 894 million euros.
Net debt at the end of 2009 was 3.3 billion euros, a multiple of 3.6 times EBITDA. This compared with a net debt to EBITDA multiple of 4.2 times at the end of 2008.

Travelport, a rival travel firm owned by Blackstone, last month cancelled its plans to float amid turbulence in the markets. The company had net debt of 6.5 times EBITDA in 2009 and had hoped to use the proceeds of its initial public offering to reduce this to 3.5 times.

Context News

Amadeus IT Holding said on March 23 that it plans to seek a listing on the Spanish stock exchange during the first half of 2010.

Together, the two offerings will represent at least 25 percent of the company's share capital.

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