Offer to buy Travelocity hits snag
Even before Sabre's bid to buy the remaining stake in the travel site was formally presented, a committee charged with studying the offer calls it "opportunistic."
Sabre, which already owns 70 percent of Travelocity stock, offered Tuesday to pay $23 per share for the remaining 30 percent. But late Monday night, before the bid was formally presented, an independent committee charged by Travelocity with reviewing the offer frowned on it.
The Sabre offer "would constitute an opportunistic attempt to acquire Travelocity at a time when its stock price is temporarily depressed," the committee said, according to Travelocity.
Earlier Monday, Travelocity said that some of its shareholders had filed a number of lawsuits in an attempt to block the anticipated sale. The shareholders called the Sabre offer "inadequate."
Sabre, which operates one of the world's largest computer reservation systems, said in a news release Tuesday that the $23 per share offer is a 20 percent premium over the $19.20 share price at which Travelocity closed on Feb. 15, the day Sabre announced it was seeking control.