The FINANCIAL — The European Investment Bank, the European Union’s long-term financing institution, has granted a loan of EUR 200 million for Amadeus IT Group, S.A., subsidiary of Amadeus IT Holding S.A., a leading travel technology partner and transaction processor for the global travel and tourism industry, with the latter acting as the guarantor of the transaction.
According to the European Investment Bank, the loan, which has a nine year maturity, will be available from 24 May and will be used by Amadeus to finance the research & development of a variety of projects in the area of IT for airlines, airports, hotels, and rail between 2012 and 2014.
There are two tranches to the loan: one with a notional value of EUR 150 million, with semester repayments after the third year; and a second tranche with a notional value of EUR 50 million, with semester repayments after the fourth year.
The EIB is the long-term lending institution of the European Union and is owned by its member states. In 2011 it provided finance totaling €61 billion. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals. One such goal is to promote the implementation of the knowledge economy, such as education, research & development and innovation.
Continued investment in innovative IT solutions is central to the Amadeus ethos and approximately EUR 2 billion was invested in R&D between 2004 and 2011. EUR 364 million was invested in R&D during 2011, representing 13.4% of revenues. Globally there are sixteen R&D centres, currently housing over 4,000 people, and many of these are European based, including the central R&D centre in Nice, plus London, Antwerp, Aachen, Frankfurt, Strasbourg, and Warsaw.
Philippe de Fontaine Vive Curtaz, Vice-President, European Investment Bank says: “This EUR 200 million development loan to Amadeus achieves our objective of making long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals. Amadeus’ commitment to innovation and proven track record in developing successful IT solutions fits naturally with our commitment to promoting the European knowledge economy.”
Luis Maroto, President & CEO, Amadeus comments: “We are honoured to be recognised by an institution as prestigious as the European Investment Bank. We feel this is further proof of our long-term commitment to developing innovative customer-focused solutions such as our airline IT platform, the Altéa Suite, which is now used by 107 of the world’s leading airlines. We will use this EUR 200 million loan to continue developing world class IT solutions that will revolutionise the travel industry.”
Discussion about this post