Agreement to acquire innovative airline technology company expected to speed the industry toward end-to-end NDC-enabled capabilities.
Sabre Corporation has announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Farelogix, a recognized innovator in the travel industry with advanced offer management and NDC order delivery technology used by many of the world’s leading airlines. Sabre expects that upon close, the acquisition will allow the company to accelerate delivery of its end-to-end NDC-enabled retailing, distribution and fulfillment solutions.
Based in Miami, Farelogix provides a suite of SaaS solutions that enables carriers to dynamically create, control, optimize and deliver personalized and differentiated offers across sales channels. These airline-controlled retailing, merchandising and distribution capabilities complement Sabre’s existing retailing and merchandising solutions and future product roadmap.
“Farelogix’s investments in offer management and NDC order delivery will help us accelerate our plans to deliver future-ready retailing, distribution and fulfillment solutions that unlock increased value for the industry,” said Sean Menke, president & CEO of Sabre. “By integrating Farelogix’s capabilities into Sabre’s leading airline technology platform, we’ll be able to offer the innovative and comprehensive solutions that airlines require, backed by best-in-class technology and the deep expertise that our teams bring to market.”
Building upon Farelogix’s GDS- and PSS-agnostic capabilities, Sabre expects to drive faster innovation in the dynamic and highly competitive airline IT space to enable airlines to accelerate their own growth and profitability while benefiting customers across the travel ecosystem.
“For the past few years, Farelogix and Sabre have worked together with shared customers to implement our complementary technologies to solve some of the industry’s toughest challenges. Today’s announcement is a natural evolution of the successful, ongoing collaboration between our two companies,” said Jim Davidson, CEO of Farelogix. “Sabre shares our vision for innovation and has the leading technology, resources, and global presence to help us scale our solutions and grow our customer base.”
Sabre’s agreement to acquire Farelogix is the next step in its broader effort to become the preferred platform at the center of the business of travel. Among other innovations, Sabre recently launched its digital commercial airline platform with several carriers, delivering end-to-end personalized retailing capabilities to maximize revenue and create a differentiated brand experience. In addition, through its Beyond NDC program, Sabre is partnering with a host of airlines and travel agencies to drive the travel industry forward through the design, development, integration and testing of end-to-end capabilities to process NDC-enabled offers and orders. The acquisition and integration of Farelogix technology will help Sabre accelerate these innovation efforts.
At closing, Sabre will purchase Farelogix for approximately $360 million, funded by cash on hand and revolver borrowing. Farelogix expects full year 2018 revenue of approximately $40 million. The acquisition is expected to be neutral to Sabre’s 2019 Adjusted EPS.
The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals and is expected to close in late 2018 or early 2019. Until closing, Sabre and Farelogix will continue to operate as separate businesses with no immediate changes to daily operations.
