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By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS, Sept 25 (Reuters) – Booking Holdings’ proposed 1.63-billion-euro ($1.7 billion) purchase of Swedish peer ETraveli Group was blocked by EU antitrust authorities on Monday after they said it would have bolstered Booking’s dominance in hotel online travel agencies (OTA).
The European Commission, which acts as the competition watchdog in the 27-country European Union, said Booking’s remedies were not sufficient to address its concerns, confirming a Reuters story earlier this month.
“The transaction would have strengthened Booking’s dominant position in the hotel OTA market, leading to higher costs for hotels and, possibly, for consumers,” the EU antitrust enforcer said in a statement.
It said Booking’s proposal to show multiple hotel options to customers who book flights on its site, failed to allay its concerns.
“The feedback received indicates that the proposed remedies were not sufficiently comprehensive and effective and did not eliminate entirely the identified competition concerns,” the EU competition watchdog said.
Booking, whose brands include Booking.com, Rentalcars, Priceline and Agoda, announced the deal in November 2021.
ETraveli, owned by private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, owns Gotogate and Mytrip and also operates airline content distribution services provider TripStack.
The deal received an unconditional green light in Britain last year, underscoring the different regulatory approaches in different markets. (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Philip Blenkinsop)
