Cendant favourite to take ebookers

The owner of the Avis car rental business today emerged as the front-runner in the race to land online travel company ebookers.

US-based travel and property business Cendant is thought to have edged ahead of Priceline.com and a number of private equity bidders, the Sunday Times said.

The winning party could be announced in a matter of days – almost three months after ebookers first said it was involved in takeover talks.

The specialist in trips to Australia and the United States is likely to be valued at around €300m after shares closed on Friday at 299.75p.

Interest in ebookers has been strong, although rival Expedia’s parent company InterActiveCorp ruled itself out of the running despite market expectations of a bid. The owner of website Travelocity had also been linked.

Ebookers, which has websites in 13 European countries and brands including Flightbookers, Bridge The World and The Adventure Company, has endured a tough year, although it did cut third quarter losses by 39%.

A deal with Cendant would add ebookers to an extensive portfolio of travel interests at the US company, which also runs the Galileo distribution system used by 44,000 travel agencies and more than 60,000 hotels.

Cendant is the world’s largest car rental operator, with the Avis and Budget brands.