Ctrip.com International has signed a definitive agreement with the majority shareholders of Skyscanner under which the Chinese company will take control of the company.

The terms of the acquisition value Skyscanner at approximately £1.4 billion.

Skyscanner’s current management team will continue to manage Skyscanner’s operations independently as part of the Ctrip group.

“Skyscanner is one of the largest travel search platforms in the world,” said James Jianzhang Liang, co-founder and executive chairman of Ctrip.

“We are excited to welcome Skyscanner into the Ctrip group.

“Ctrip and Skyscanner share the same passion and dedication in providing travellers around the world with better services.

“This acquisition will strengthen long-term growth drivers for both companies.

“Skyscanner will complement our positioning at a global scale and Ctrip will leverage our experience, technology and booking capabilities to Skyscanner’s.”

The boards of directors of the company and Skyscanner have approved the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, and is expected to close by the end of 2016.

“Ctrip is the clear market leader in China and a company we can learn a huge amount from,” said Gareth Williams, co-founder, Skyscanner.

“Today’s news takes Skyscanner one step closer to our goal of making travel search as simple as possible for travellers around the world.

“Ctrip and Skyscanner share a common view – that organising travel has a long way to go to being solved.

“To do so requires powerful technology and a traveller-first approach.

“In taking the next step to achieving our goal, Skyscanner will remain operationally independent and our growing global team will continue to innovate and deliver the products travellers know and love.

“It’s an exciting time for our business, our partners and the travellers who use us.”

Take a look below as Skyscanner chief executive Gareth Williams comments on the news: