The move towards a stock-market listing in Madrid, potentially one of Spain’s largest ever, comes as Amadeus rival Travelport also looks to revive its own, pre-credit crunch IPO plans.
The company, controlled by private-equity firms BC Partners and Cinven Group Ltd. has hired Goldman Sachs Group, JP Morgan Chase and Morgan Stanley as global coordinators. Amadeus is already working with Rothschild as an independent adviser.
According to the sources further group of banks including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, HSBC, BNP Paribas and Santander are likely to help syndicate the equity as lead managers.
Air France has 23.14 percent of Amadeus and Iberia and Lufthansa both have 11.57 percent each. Amadeus was delisted four years ago when BC Partners and Cinven bought their stake from the three airlines.
The company generated revenue of 2.86 billion in 2008, up 2.2% from a year earlier. Its travel bookings fell 2.1% to 526.6 million in the period, hurt by a slump in travel due to the global financial crisis. This trend continued into this year, with bookings down 9.1% on the year in the first quarter, according to Amadeus’s last financial statement.