Sabre's acquisition of Farelogix
is now expected to close in the middle of 2019, CEO Sean Menke said on Tuesday.
Speaking during the company's fourth-quarter earnings call
with investors, Menke said the $360 million acquisition, initially expected to
close in late 2018 or early 2019, has been delayed.
"As expected, we did receive a second request from the
Department of Justice, and we're working with them to go through that process,"
Menke said.
Farelogix offers airlines solutions to create and deliver
personalized, differentiated offers across sales channels. Sabre was interested
in the acquisition primarily to help fuel its progress with IATA's New
Distribution Capability (NDC).
The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval. The
Department of Justice polices competition matters.
In the fourth quarter
of 2018, Sabre reported a 4.8% uptick in revenue to $923.9 million. Net income
attributable to common stockholders increased 2.8% to $84.4 million.
Sabre Travel Network reported a 7.5% increase in revenue to
$665.2 million, largely attributed to global bookings growth and an increase in
the average booking fee.
For the full year,
Sabre reported a 7.5% revenue increase, to $3.87 billion. Net income attributed
to common stockholders increased 39.2%, to $337.5 million.
Travel Network's year-over-year revenue increased 10% to
$2.806 billion, driven by a stable bookings environment, global share gain and
growth in average booking fee.