ebookers.com today announces the all-share acquisition of MrJet, one of
Scandinavia`s leading online travel companies and ebookers.com`s closest
competitor in the area.
The acquisition is in line with ebookers.com`s stated
strategy to build on its strong European position and will make it the leading
online travel agency in the Scandinavian region.
ebookers.com aims to leverage economies of scale resulting from the acquisition, and build on customer and buyer relationships in order to further its progress towards cash flow breakeven in Q4 2001 or Q1 2002.
MrJet, headquartered in Sweden will be merged with ebookers.com online Swedish subsidiary, under the management of Henrik Kjellberg, MrJet`s CEO. MrJet
sells mainly flights, and also other travel products, to customers in Norway,
Finland, and Denmark as well as Sweden. ebookers.com already has subsidiaries
in each of these countries, which will manage MrJet`s operations.
MrJet had gross sales of approximately $10m in 2000.  Over the past 12 months MrJet has consistently been among the top 4 online travel sites in Sweden according to MMXI unique visitors figures.
Formed in 1997, initially as a travel channel within Scandinavian Internet
portal, Spray, MrJet was launched as a separate company in 1999. MrJet
currently has 200,000 registered users, and more than 90% of its sales are
online. In January and February 2001, MrJet`s Swedish site had over
130,000 unique visitors per month according to MMXI figures.
The consideration for the acquisition is to be paid 100% in ordinary shares, amounting to a total of 2.6% of the issued shares of ebookers.com on a fully diluted basis. With the completion of the transaction, if all
outstanding shares were converted to American Depositary Shares (ADSs), the
total number of ADSs outstanding would now be 23,249,245, an increase of
604,481.
Dinesh Dhamija, CEO ebookers.com commented:
“The acquisition will make ebookers.com the leading online travel agent in
Scandinavia, one of Europe`s most advanced Internet regions in terms of usage.
We have a proven track record as a consolidator of travel agents in Europe with 12 acquisitions since the summer of 1999. No other online travel company has managed a pan-European roll-out across 11 European countries. Along with organic growth, we see acquisitions as a key way of furthering our leading
European market position. We will be considering further acquisitions at appropriate stages and values in key markets over the forthcoming year.”
Henrik Kjellberg, CEO MrJet commented: “MrJet is a leading online travel agent in Scandinavia and Finland.  By combining with ebookers.com, Europe`s largest online travel agency we look forward to consolidating our strengths and being part of a major online presence in Northern Europe.”
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