After Booking Deal Went Bust, Etraveli CEO Says Price 'No Longer in Play'

03.10.2023 - 22:09 / skift.com / Dennis Schaal / European Commission

eTraveli Group was left at the altar last week when the European Commission blocked its acquisition by Booking Holdings on antitrust grounds. Booking is appealing, but eTraveli CEO Mathias Hedlund said the $1.8 billion deal would be “no longer in play.”

“We are a bigger fish now than we were at the time,” Hedlund said in an exclusive interview with Skift, referring to when the company signed the merger deal in November 2021. He said eTraveli is 2.4 times larger than before the pandemic.

”Naturally the sales and purchase agreement was dependent on regulatory approval, and should Booking win the appeal, then a new SPA would need to be made,” Hedlund added. He declined to comment on whether eTraveli would receive a break-up fee from Booking. A Booking spokesperson declined to comment on the acquisition price issue.

The two parties agreed to the deal when the European aviation industry was still depressed. Any renegotiation of the acquisition price would have to take into account not only eTraveli’s growth but also that its flights partnership with Booking.com is responsible for some of that growth.

Another issue is that some of eTraveli Group’s partners might opt out of the arrangements if Booking eventually owns the company.

Founded in 2000, eTraveli Group has a business-to-business-to-consumer segment for flights and its own direct-to-consumer online travel agency business. It also helps to power flights for metasearch businesses with partners such as Google Flights, Trip.com Group’s Skyscanner, and Booking Holdings’ Kayak. These two segments make up the majority of eTraveli’s business. It also has a third business line, technology solutions, with airlines as some of its customers.

Europe is eTraveli’s largest market, and it claims to process more “orders” — defined as bookings for one or more passengers on one or more flights — than eDreams Odigeo, which itself claims to be the largest flights seller in the world outside China. Hedlund said eTraveli has 10% of global online travel agency market share of flights, and it is stronger in its Europe home base. The company has more than 2,200 employees.

Booking.com launched its own flights business in 2019 in partnership with eTraveli, and the two parties have extended that collaboration through 2028. For many years, Booking.com was an accommodations-only business, one of the largest in the world.

Hedlund said he hopes Booking wins its appeal. However, eTraveli Group’s private equity owner CVC Capital would retain all its exit options, he said. “Eventually they have to make sure the exit is right, if it is to Booking or is to someone else. That is to be seen,” Hedlund said.

The merger got the go-ahead from UK regulators. But the European Commission argued it