Great Hill sells Momondo to The Priceline Group for $550m

The valuation – approximately £440m at the exchange rate on 8 February – is more than three times the £132m valuation of the company at the time of Great Hill's initial investment and follows a two-year holding period.

Under the GP's tenure, the business increased its focus on international sales and expanded into the Chinese market with the opening of a Shanghai office in December 2014.

According to its most recent financial results, 89% of Momondo Group's revenues are now generated from non-UK sales, up from 85% at the time of Great Hill's initial investment.

The company has also invested in product development, with a particular focus on repositioning its platforms for access via mobile devices, and in expanding its team, which has grown from 200 to around 250 under the GP's tenure.

According to publicly available documents, Momondo Group generated revenues of £62.2m in 2015, up from £43.3m in the year prior to Great Hill's investment.

Following the deal, the business will become part of Priceline's travel brand, Kayak.

The transaction is expected to close later in the year, following regulatory approval.

The sale is the latest in an ongoing wave of high-profile exits from UK-based portfolio companies to international buyers. It comes a month after Graphite Capital sold Micheldever Tyre Services to Sumitomo Rubber Industries for £215m and Bowmark Capital and Rothschild sold Autodata to Solera for £340m.

Great Hill's exit also comes shortly after Scottish Equity Partners sold Momondo Group's competitor Skyscanner to China's Ctrip in a £1.4bn deal.

Previous funding
Great Hill invested £80m to acquire a majority stake in Momondo Group in October 2014 in a £132m deal. The company's management team remained in place following the deal and retained a significant minority stake.

Company
Headquartered in London, Momondo Group is an online travel search business. Founded in 1996 as Cheapflights, it rebranded to its current name in 2011 after acquiring Skygate and Momondo.

The group's brands include Momondo, Cheapflights and Momondo.pro. Its apps are available across 30 countries and in 20 languages. As of May 2016, it had a total headcount of around 250 with additional offices in Copenhagen, Boston and Toronto.

People
Great Hill Partners – Michael A Kumin (managing partner); Peter L Garran (partner).
Momondo Group – Hugo Burge (CEO).
The Priceline Group – Glenn Fogel (CEO).

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• Exits
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