Simpson Thacher is representing The Blackstone Group in its acquisition of Travelport Inc., Cendant Corporation’s travel distribution services subsidiary. Blackstone will pay $4.3 billion in cash for the stock of Travelport, subject to certain adjustments. The acquisition was announced on June 30, 2006. The completion of the transaction is subject to satisfaction of customary conditions to closing, including the receipt of applicable regulatory approvals, and is expected to close in August 2006.
Travelport is one of the world’s largest and most geographically diverse travel companies, and operates over 20 leading brands, including Orbitz, an online travel agency, and Galileo, a global distribution system.
The Simpson Thacher team includes Bill Curbow, Doug Bacon, Jeremy Saks and Anthony Vernace (M&A), Alden Millard (Credit), Joe Tringali and Olivier Antoine (Antitrust), Charlie Rappaport and Sean Austin (Tax), Greg Grogan and Andrew O’Brien (Employee Benefits), Lori Lesser and Mark Solomon (IP), Scott Dyer (Labor) and Mike Isby (Environmental). Valuable assistance was also provided by summer associates Aditya Ajwani, Nicholas Ferrer, Jason Friedman, Daniel Layfield, Humberto Macias and Elsa Wang and paralegal Ilunga Kalala.