Expedia to buy vacation rental site HomeAway for $3.9 bn

US online travel agency Expedia Inc yesterday struck a deal to buy vacation rental site HomeAway Inc for about $3.9 billion in cash and stock.

The proposed acquisition comes less than a year after Expedia purchased Orbitz Worldwide Inc for $1.3 billion and Travelocity for $280 million.

 Under the terms of the offer, Expedia will pay $10.15 in cash and 0.2065 in stock, valued at $38.31, based on Expedia's closing price on 3 November 2015.

The boards of directors of both companies have approved the transaction, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2016 subject to regulatory approvals.

Based in Austin, Texas, HomeAway is the global leader in vacation rentals, with sites representing over one million paid listings of vacation rental homes in 190 countries.

 The HomeAway portfolio includes the leading vacation rental websites HomeAway.com, VRBO.com and VacationRentals.com in the US, HomeAway.co.uk and OwnersDirect.co.uk in the UK, HomeAway.de in Germany; Abritel.fr and Homelidays.com in France; HomeAway.es and Toprural.es in Spain; AlugueTemporada.com.br in Brazil; HomeAway.com.au and Stayz.com.au in Australia; Bookabach.co.nz in New Zealand, and Asia Pacific short-term rental site, travelmob.com.

Expedia is the world's largest online travel agency by bookings, operating more than 100 branded points of sale in more than 60 countries.

It also powers travel bookings for over 10,000 airlines and hotels, consumer brands, and high traffic websites through Expedia Affiliate Network.

Its extensive portfolio of brands include online travel brands like Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Hotwire, Orbitz Worldwide, Travelocity, Egencia, Venere.com, trivago, Wotif Group, Wotif.com, Wotif.co.nz, lastminute.com.au, lastminute.com.nz and travel.com.au, Expedia Local Expert, Classic Vacations, Expedia, CruiseShipCenters, CarRentals.com.

Commenting on the transaction, Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Expedia, said, "We have long had our eyes on the fast growing $100 billion alternative accommodations space and have been building on our partnership with HomeAway, a global leader in vacation rentals, for two years. Bringing HomeAway into the Expedia, Inc. family and adding its leading brands to our portfolio of the most trusted brands in travel is a logical next step."