A majority of Travelport shareholders Friday gave the requisite go-ahead to the publicly traded company's proposed acquisition by a private equity partnership.
While equity analysts had met the $15.75 per-share offer from Siris Capital Group and Evergreen Coast Capital with disappointment, Travelport's board backed the deal in December and, in a public filing this year, recounted how company directors and management explored alternative scenarios and other potential suitors to land at what Travelport stated is the best offer for shareholders.
The deal, valued at $4.4 billion, which includes the assumption of debt, is expected to close by midyear.
Affiliates of Elliott Management, which is run by activist investor Paul Singer, disclosed an approximately 12 percent stake in Travelport a year ago. What followed was a strategic review of the company at the urging of Elliott Management. One of the private equity entities involved in the deal, Evergreen Coast Capital, is an affiliate of Elliott Management.
An affiliate of Blackstone in 2006 purchased Travelport from Cendant for around $4.3 billion. The global distribution system operator was privately held until its IPO in 2014, when it was priced around $16 per share.
Pending other customary closing conditions, Travelport will return to private ownership and, as such, will delist from the New York Stock Exchange.