Travelport's Clarke: Worldspan Acquisition On Track

Travelport CEO Jeff Clarke today during the company's first-quarter earnings call said he still expects the company's acquisition of global distribution system Worldspan to close in the third quarter of this year, despite a second-phase review of the proposed transaction by the European Commission.

"We still believe this is a very pro-competitive acquisition," Clarke said. "This is one where the industry will be stronger; the competitive context in the industry will be improved by this. We will have stronger technology and be a better competitor to a player as dominant as Amadeus in this market."

The European Commission opened a detailed review of Travelport's acquisition of Worldspan under European Union merger regulations, noting that "the proposed transaction would give rise to competition concerns on the market for the provision of GDS services to travel service providers—airlines, car rental companies, hotels, etc.—in the European Economic Area and to travel agents in several member states." The commission said it would make its final decision on the proposed merger by Sept. 13.

As noted by Clarke, Amadeus is the largest GDS in Europe. Meanwhile, Travelport's Galileo and Worldspan are the second- and fourth-largest in the EU. Travelport officials today said the merged Galileo-Worldspan would create a "low-cost" provider of travel distribution.

"I think what we've done is we've cooperated fully with all the regulatory authorities," Clarke said. "They have a process that they're required to go through. We've met with them. We feel they're going through their process. The dialogue is constructive, and they will come to their conclusion."