Travel reservation company Sabre Holdings, owner of the Travelocity Web site, is in advanced talks to be sold to a consortium of private equity firms for more than $4 billion, the New York Times Web site said on Monday, citing people involved in the negotiations.
A deal could be struck as early as tomorrow, the paper said.
Two investor groups are vying for Sabre, which was the original reservation system of American Airlines before being spun off as an independent business that served all of the major carriers, the New York Times said.
The paper reported that the bidding group favoured to win the auction includes Silver Lake Partners and Texas Pacific Group. A rival bidding group is led by Apollo Group, it said. The people involved in the talks said a third group of investors is also considering a bid, the paper said.
Sabre had a market capitalization of about $3.7 billion based on Friday’s closing share price of $28.32.
Sabre was not immediately available for comment.
