The takeover battle for online travel group travel.com.au has been won. Wotif.com Holdings has won the support of the group’s independent directors for its third offer, and rival bidder Webjet has ruled itself out of the race.
Wotif’s restructured bid values travel.com.au at $57 million, with a an all-cash option of 55¢ a share or an all-scrip offer of between 0.1018 and 0.1188 Wotif share if it reaches a 90% minimum acceptance condition.
In August, travel.com.au posted a net loss of $129,112 for 2006-07 compared with a loss of $655,000 in the previous year. Travel.com.au, which turned over $11.6 million in 2006-07, has forecast revenue growth of 30–35% in 2007-08.
Webjet managing director David Clarke has said Wotif obviously valued the company more than he and time will tell who was right.
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