Travelport Defers £1.2bn Flotation

Travelport has shelved plans for its £1.2bn stock market flotation on the London Stock Exchange citing volatile market conditions.

Travelport’s chief executive Jeff Clarke said the company would re-evaluate the situation when markets had stabilised.

“We will consider bringing it back to the market at a future date, when equity market conditions are more favourable,” Clarke said.

Travelport is reported to have cut its price range for the listing by a quarter to between 180p and 190p per share from the previous 210p to 290p.

The proposed listing would have been the biggest in London for almost two years, according to business.timesonline.co.uk.

The deal arranged by Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse, Citi, Deutsche Bank and UBS was expected to close on 11 February.

Investors who were expected to participate in the listing said the bonus package change has failed to ease more fundamental reservations about the company.

Few fund managers cited poor performance of recent initial public offering stocks as their reason for non-participation.

Travelport’s private equity owner Blackstone Group led a buyout of Travelport from Cendant in 2006 for $4.3bn.

Travelport merged with Worldspan to expand its reach in the US. Orbitz, the group’s online travel arm, was created a year later.