Further Consolidation on the GDS Front?

The Wall Street Journal and the the NY Times both stated that Sabre was on the auction block today. One of the reports states a deal could be consummated as earlier as Tuesday, while the other states as early as this week. From comparing the two reports and checking with others in the industry, it appears that there are three principal auctioning parties. Reports say the company is in advanced talks to be sold to a consortium of private equity firms for more than $4 billion. The New York Times reports that there are two investor groups vying for Sabre and that the group favoured to win comprises Silver Lake Partners and Texas Pacific Group. The other group is led by Apollo Group and there could be a third group waiting in the wings. Private equity groups like the reservation business because of its steady cash flow and some of the members of these groups bid unsuccessfully for Travelport. Sabre was spun off from AMR Corp, the parent of American Airlines in 2000 and owns Travelocity, one of the 3 biggest OTA's.