Wex Buys Enett From Travelport for $1.7 Billion in a Travel Payments Mashup
Photo Credit: A shot of Melissa Smith, Chair and CEO of payments company Wex, while speaking during a Ted Talk. Smith led the acquisition of eNett, a travel sector payments company. Wex
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With this deal, Wex now becomes a powerhouse in assisting business-to-business travel payments worldwide. The deal also gives cash to seller Travelport, which might use the money to expand its airline tech offerings.
Wex, a financial technology company, said Friday it had agreed to buy eNett, a payments tech company for travel suppliers like airlines and online travel agencies, along with a related financial technology company Optal, for about $1.7 billion.
"This deal creates the foremost payments leader in the global travel marketplace," said Melissa Smith, Wex Chair and CEO, during a press conference. The combination represents about 20 percent of the market, she said. The offer is comprised of about $1.275 billion in cash and the rest in equity.
The biggest gain for Wex is adding eNett's geographic reach in Europe and Asia-Pacific, she said.
Both eNett and Optal work with major online travel agencies like Booking.com and suppliers like AirAsia, and generated about $155 million in revenue together in 2019.
Travelport, the travel distribution t
