Articles tagged “eNett”

There are more signs of confidence that travel’s making a comeback, with outsider Nium now wanting a slice of the payments action by buying Ixaris.

It is likely back to square one for Travelport, which has tried to sell its hottest commodity, payments provider eNett, for years. It's possible another buyer may emerge, but at a price far below the $1.7 billion deal that the parties struck in a now-vaporized bygone era.

By the end of this week, Travelport is expected to leave the public markets in a $4.4 billion leveraged buyout. After months of waiting, the company can finally move on to its next steps.

Few companies other than activist investor Elliott Management expressed a serious interest in acquiring Travelport. Elliott twice lost potential private equity partners after they reviewed Travelport's books. The deal price is underwhelming, and that's a signal that some things haven't been going the company's way.

Travelport has only been on the public market for four years, but hedge fund Elliott Management believes it can engineer a leveraged buyout that will unlock more value from the company. A spin-off of payments unit eNett is a likely early goal.

While Travelport is best known as a middleman for selling airplane tickets, its fastest-growing segment is in commercial payments. While payments competitors like Wex and Worldpay don't have to worry yet, they may have to soon.