Travel and real-estate conglomerate Cendant Corp. is selling its travel services unit that includes Orbitz.com to an affiliate of private-equity firm Blackstone Group for $4.3 billion in cash, the companies announced Friday.
The move is part of a plan announced in October to split Cendant, the owner of Days Inn and Cheaptickets.com, into four companies by selling three of its units. The company plans to spin off Realogy Corp. and Wyndham Worldwide to shareholders in separate transactions in late July.
The sale of the unit, recently renamed Travelport, includes a global distribution system known as Galileo, which serves more than 50,000 travel agencies and over 60,000 hotels; Gullivers Travel Associates, an online provider of hotel rooms, travel packages and group tours and online travel agencies CheapTickets.com and Orbitz.
The deal is expected to close in August, pending regulatory and other customary conditions. Cendant plans to use the proceeds to reduce debt at Realogy and Wyndham.
