Orbitz announced results for the third quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2009.
In a separate press release Orbitz Worldwide also announced equity investments totaling $100 million from PAR Investment Partners and Blackstone-controlled Travelport.
PAR will exchange $49.68 million of Orbitz Worldwide senior term debt for 8.16 million shares of Orbitz Worldwide common stock.
Travelport will purchase 9.025 million shares of newly-issued Orbitz Worldwide common stock for $5.54 per share.
"Over the course of this year we have dramatically improved value for our customers by removing air booking fees, eliminating hotel change and cancellation fees, launching Hotel Price Assurance and Total Price hotel search results, and cutting hotel booking fees. As a result we've seen accelerating trends in our business, including a 27 percentage point increase in the year-on-year growth rate in air tickets in the third quarter 2009 as compared with the first quarter 2009," said Barney Harford, president & CEO, Orbitz Worldwide. "In Europe ebookers delivered 43 percent year-on-year growth in hotel room nights as a result of its migration to the global platform and improved hotel supply."
"The $50 million equity investment and $49.68 million debt exchange we announced today highlight the confidence of two highly sophisticated investors, PAR and Blackstone-controlled Travelport," continued Harford. "These transactions will enable us to reduce our debt by $50 million, increase our cash by $50 million, and give us additional operating flexibility as we pursue the global hotel distribution opportunity."
Read the complete press release at Orbitz.com