Amadeus completes acquisition of TravelTainment

Madrid, 27 September 2006 – Amadeus, a global provider of technology and distribution solutions for the travel and tourism industry, has completed the acquisition of TravelTainment, a provider of booking engine technology in the German leisure travel market. The regulatory authority in Germany, the Bundeskartellamt, approved the transaction on 19 September. TravelTainment currently operates in Germany, Austria, Poland and the UK.

"Amadeus is pleased to be able to support the growth and development of TravelTainment in both existing and new markets," said Philippe Chérèque, Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategy, Amadeus. "This represents another important step in Amadeus becoming a technology provider to the travel and tourism industry, allowing us to help our customers position themselves to face the challenges of the changing leisure travel market."

TravelTainment has been at the forefront of online leisure selling with sophisticated pricing, search and dynamic packaging technology as well as rich content tools for the business-to-consumer travel market.

Ralf Usbeck, CEO of TravelTainment, said, “With Amadeus we have found exactly the right partner for our expansion plans and this new co-operation creates enormous possibilities to enhance our products. Our customers can look forward to our future retail solutions."

"TravelTainment is poised to expand its position across Europe. Being part of Amadeus will allow the company to achieve this goal even faster," added Hans Schreck, Chairman of TravelTainment´s Supervisory Board and General Partner of TVM Capital. "We are thrilled to have been part of turning a German technology start-up into an international high impact company."

The selling shareholders were advised by investment banking firm InterFinanz GmbH & Co. KG, Duesseldorf/Germany.

Notes to the editors:

About TravelTainment
TravelTainment, headquartered in Aachen/Germany, is an Application Service and Content Provider for the Travel Industry. The company provides consumer-optimised IT solutions for the effective sale of travel products.

TravelTainment AG provides booking engine technology to the German leisure travel market. Since 2000, TravelTainment has been Venture Capital backed by an international investor consortium led by TVM Capital, Boston and Munich.

The company’s internet booking engine (TT-IBE) uses unique "fuzzy logic" software technology to find suitable alternative travel offers. In addition, TravelTainment offers the complete service for customers’ websites such as layout, content management system, internet booking engine and hosting. The BistroPortal module for agents and retailers is an extremely powerful tool to optimise consultancy and increase sales. More than 4.000 German agencies use BistroPortal.

TravelTainment’s geo-referenced resort and destination content comprises of high quality images, 360° panoramic views, information on countries and regions as well as texts on all relevant resorts, including details on cities, beaches, hotels, leisure activities and places of interest.

TravelTainment with its subsidiary IFF GmbH in Bochum has about 85 employees.

About Amadeus
Amadeus is the chosen technology partner for providers, sellers, and buyers of travel. The company provides distribution, IT and point-of-sale solutions to help its customers adapt, grow and succeed in the fast-changing travel industry. Customer groups include travel providers (airlines, hotels, car rental companies, railway companies, ferry lines, cruise lines, insurance companies and tour operators), travel sellers (travel agencies) and travel buyers (corporations and travellers). Solutions are grouped in four solution categories – Distribution & Content, Sales & e-Commerce, Business Management and Services & Consulting.

Amadeus has central sites in Madrid (corporate headquarters & marketing), Nice (development) and Erding (Operations – data processing centre) and regional offices in Miami, Buenos Aires and Bangkok. At market level, Amadeus maintains customer operations in 75 countries covering more than 215 markets. The company has nearly 6,700 employees worldwide, representing 95 nationalities.

For further information, please click here