Spain's Amadeus to buy Accenture's Navitaire for $830 mn

Spanish travel software company Amadeus yesterday struck a deal to buy technology and business solutions provider to the airline industry Navitaire from Accenture Plc, for $830 million in order to focus on digital services for airline passengers.

As part of the acquisition, around 550 Navitaire employees, including the company's senior management team, are expected to transfer to Madrid-based Amadeus.

Amadeus and Accenture expect to close the Navitaire acquisition in the fourth quarter of calendar 2015, following regulatory approvals.

In a separate agreement, Accenture and Amadeus have agreed to form an alliance to help lead airlines through the digital transformation taking place in the industry and drive efficiency in the global operations of airlines' businesses.

The alliance combines Amadeus' and Navitaire's industry solutions and experience with Accenture's aviation expertise and global capabilities in technology, analytics, cloud, mobility and operations.

Accenture and Amadeus have also agreed to enter into a third agreement under which Accenture will provide Amadeus with infrastructure outsourcing, application and research and development services. Accenture will continue to provide hosting services for current Navitaire clients as well as Amadeus's future clients that purchase the Navitaire solution.

Navitaire, which focuses on the low-cost and hybrid-carrier segments of the airline industry and has a global customer base of more than 50 operators, provides revenue-generation and cost-streamlining solutions in the areas of reservations, ancillary sales, loyalty, revenue management, revenue accounting and business intelligence.

''The travel industry is a strategic market for Accenture, and we continue to grow our practice in this area to help our clients better serve their digital customers,'' said Eric Schaeffer, senior managing director, Accenture.

''The combination of products and solutions from Accenture, Amadeus and Navitaire in this alliance will create a unique offering in the market that no single provider currently offers. We're also excited to be leveraging our experience in the airline industry and our technology expertise to provide Amadeus with a range of outsourcing and R&D services,'' he added.