UK dot-com Skyscanner scooped up by China's Ctrip in £1.4bn deal

China's largest online travel company scoops up Skyscanner

British online travel company Skyscanner is to be acquired by China's Ctrip in a deal that values the company at around £1.4bn.

Originally set-up as a flight-price comparison website in 2003, today it competes with Expedia, Travelocity, Kayak and others in providing price comparison services in hotel and rental cars too.

The company is based in Edinburgh, offers its services in more than 30 languages, and claims about 60 million monthly active users. The company claims that the deal will enable it to continue operating independently.

Ctrip, meanwhile, is one of China's largest online travel companies with gross sales of $51bn in its last fiscal year. It was founded in 1999 but, like many of China's ambitious corporates, is keen to expand abroad.

In 2015, it merged with Chinese rival Qunar, making it China's biggest internet travel company. Chinese internet giant Baidu has a 25 per cent stake in the company, which is listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange in New York.

James Jianzhang Liang, co-founder and executive chairman of Ctrip, claimed that the deal would "strengthen long-term growth drivers for both companies".

He continued: "Skyscanner will complement our positioning at a global scale and Ctrip will leverage our experience, technology and booking capabilities to Skyscanner's."

The sale comes a year after Skyscanner completed a round of venture capital funding - a move indicating that the company's development is well behind rivals - in a bid to fuel expansion. Backers include well-known investment company Sequoia Capital, as well as Yahoo Japan, City of London fund manager Artemis and Scottish Equity Partners, the company's biggest backer.

"Ctrip is the clear market leader in China and a company we can learn a huge amount from," said Skyscanner co-founder and CEO Gareth Williams. The acquisition, he added, would take the company "one step closer to our goal of making travel search as simple as possible for travellers around the world."

The buy-out of Skyscanner comes just months after the UK's best-known technology company, chip designer ARM, was acquired by Japan's Softbank in a £24bn deal.