Agnelli, Ardian-Backed Bravofly Plans Second-Quarter Share Sale

March 19 (Bloomberg) — Bravofly Rumbo Group said today it plans an initial public offering in the second quarter that may value the Swiss online travel agency at more than $600 million, to fund acquisitions and boost liquidity for shareholders.

“Current market conditions are perfect,” Chief Executive Officer Francesco Signoretti said on a conference call today. Bravofly is targeting a valuation of in excess of 20 times adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of 22.8 million euros ($31.7 million) based on investor advice, Chairman Fabio Cannavale said. The company expects proceeds of as much as 110 million euros from the sale and will list on the SIX Swiss Exchange, it said in a statement.

The initial public offering of Chiasso, Switzerland-based Bravofly, whose shareholders include the Agnelli family and Ardian, the private-equity firm formerly known as AXA Private Equity, comes amid a consolidation of Europe’s travel websites. Spanish rival eDreams Odigeo, Europe’s largest online travel agency formed from the merger of three companies, plans to raise about 350 million euros in an initial public offering and could be valued at about 1.5 billion euros, people with knowledge of the situation said earlier this month.

Bravofly’s website is used to book and compare flights, vacation packages, cruises, hotel accommodation and rental cars. Signoretti said that eDreams Odigeo’s initial public offering, which he expects will be successful “is very close to us, so it’s something that could impact us.”

Credit Suisse Group AG, Morgan Stanley and UBS AG are joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners. Mediobanca SpA is acting as joint bookrunner for the offering, Bravofly said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Patrick Winters in Zurich at [e-mail]; Jan-Henrik Foerster in Zurich at [e-mail] To contact the editors responsible for this story: Simon Thiel at [e-mail] Robert Valpuesta, Thomas Mulier