Chinese travel company Ctrip buys Skyscanner for $1.7bn
Chinese online travel company Ctrip has acquired Edinburgh-based Skyscanner for $1.7bn, according to reports.
Skyscanner sells to Ctrip
The deal will give Ctrip a wider geographic scope, outside of Greater China, as Skyscanner’s service helps people find cheap flight tickets in 30 different languages, accounting for around 60m visits a month.
The deal, which will be mostly cash but also shares and loan notes, values the Scottish company at $1.4bn, according to Channel News Asia.
Skyscanner had been courting a sale or IPO over the past year, following a round of funding in January that valued the company at $1.6bn. Investors included Malaysia’s Sovereign fund, Khazanah National, Yahoo Japan Corp. Other backers include Sequoia Capital and Scottish Equity Partners.
The investment from Yahoo Japan resulted in a joint partnership, signaling an intent to grow the business further in Asia.
Ctrip has said that Skyscanner will continue to be run by the management team independently.