SEATTLE and ROME, July 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Expedia, Inc.
(Nasdaq: EXPE) today announced that it has entered into an agreement to
acquire Italy-based Venere Net ApA (http://www.venere.com) from Advent
International and the founding partners. Venere.com has established
relationships with approximately 29,000 hotels and bed and breakfast
properties throughout Europe and the U.S. The transaction will result in the
addition of more than 10,000 incremental hotel properties in Europe, the
Middle East and Africa to Expedia, Inc.'s global hotel offering. Terms of the
pending acquisition were not disclosed. Closing of the transaction is subject
to competition approval in Germany.
Venere.com is focused on offering hotel reservations to European consumers
and provides hoteliers with geographically diverse sources of demand. The
company has direct relationships with approximately 29,000 hotels around the
world -- including 26,000 in Europe -- with which it operates an agency model.
Venere(TM) is currently adding hotel properties at a rate of more than 1,000
per month.
"Acquiring Venere will bring a well-known, respected European consumer
brand to the Expedia(R) portfolio," said Dara Khosrowshahi, President and CEO,
Expedia, Inc. "Additionally, it will immediately expand our supply footprint
in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and enable Expedia to diversify our
business model approach to hotel partners worldwide."
"We are delighted to have played a role alongside Venere's management team
in transitioning the company from an entrepreneurial, founder-led business
into one of Europe's most valuable on-line travel assets," said John Singer,
Managing Partner of Advent International. "Expedia is a highly complementary
fit for Venere, and will be a perfect strategic partner for their ongoing
development."
"We are thrilled at the prospect of becoming part of Expedia because our
dedication to offering superior service to travelers via our expansive network
of hotels and B&Bs is a great fit with the most respected group of brands in
travel," said Marco Ficarra, CEO of Venere.com. "In addition, our team of
passionate travel professionals located in Rome, London and Paris will
complement Expedia's global team, as we continue to provide hotels new ways to
optimize their distribution mix."
About Expedia, Inc.
Expedia, Inc. is the world's leading online travel company, empowering
business and leisure travelers with the tools and information they need to
easily research, plan, book and experience travel. Expedia, Inc. also provides
wholesale travel to offline retail travel agents and in-destination concierge
service and activity desks for travelers. The Expedia, Inc. portfolio of
brands includes: Expedia.com(R), hotels.com(R), Hotwire(R), Expedia(R)
Corporate Travel, TripAdvisor(R), Expedia Local Expert(TM), Classic
Vacations(R) and eLong(TM). Expedia, Inc.'s companies operate more than 50
global points of sale with sites in North America, South America, Latin
America, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. Expedia, Inc. is a
component of the S&P 500 index. For more information, visit
http://www.expediainc.com/ (Nasdaq: EXPE).
About Venere Net
Founded in 1995, Venere Net is an Online Travel Agency operating on a
global scale, and the only one to focus exclusively on hotel reservations.
Global private equity firm Advent International obtained a majority stake in
Venere in late 2006. The remaining shares are still in the hands of the four
company founders. In addition to its headquarters in Rome, Venere Net has
branch offices in London (Venere UK LTD) and Paris (Venere France SARL). For
more information, visit http://www.Venere.com/.
About Advent International
Founded in 1984, Advent International is one of the world's leading global
buyout firms, with offices in 15 countries on four continents. Advent has
built an unparalleled global platform of over 115 investment professionals
across Western and Central Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia. The
firm focuses on international buyouts, strategic restructuring opportunities
and growth buyouts in five core sectors, working actively with management
teams to drive revenue growth and earnings improvements in portfolio
companies. Since its creation, Advent has raised euro 15 billion in private
equity capital and completed more than 200 buyout and private equity
transactions valued at over euro 23 billion ($36 billion) in 35 countries. For
more information, visit http://www.adventinternational.com
Expedia and Expedia.com are either registered trademarks or trademarks of
Expedia, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Classic Vacations is either
a trademark or registered trademark of Classic Vacations, LLC in the U.S.
and/or other countries. hotels.com is either a trademark or registered
trademark of hotels.com, L.P., a subsidiary of hotels.com in the U.S. and/or
other countries. Hotwire is either a trademark or registered trademark of
Hotwire, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. TripAdvisor is either a
trademark or registered trademark of TripAdvisor, LLC in the US. and/or other
countries. Venere is a registered trademark or trademark of Venere Net S.p.a.
in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other logos or product and company names
mentioned herein may be the property of their respective owners.
SOURCE Expedia, Inc.