Grounded: Webjet walks away from $353M takeover talks with Helloworld

There’ll be no takeoff for Helloworld Travel and BGH Capital’s planned takeover of Webjet Group (ASX:WJL), the online agency flagged for its shareholders today, after neither party could agree on a middle ground on price.

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Helloworld had originally lobbed a $353 million takeover offer for the travel agency, with ambitions to boost its digital presence long-term. Helloworld, which largely operates brick-and-mortar businesses, already carries 17% of Webjet and had been looking to hike that up to an ownership percentage.

Ben Gray’s private equity firm BGH Capital was the third player in the takeover game; it, too, holds some 17.8% of the Australian online travel agency.

The deal never got off the runway, though, with Webjet saying there had been “constructive” conversations – but “insufficient certainty” in the timeframe it’d set meant the company decided to pull the plug.

“The Webjet board remains open to engaging on any future changes of control… that represents compelling value for shareholders and offers sufficient certainty of execution within an acceptable timeframe,” the company wrote.

Helloworld had originally tabled a 90c-a-share proposal for Webjet through the due diligence period, while BGH’s indicative bid had come in at 91cps.

Neither official offer had come in at around the same value, Webjet’s board explained today, which was one of the major reasons they left the negotiating table. WJL shares have been at around 77.5c before Friday morning.

The announcement comes at the same time as Webjet’s earnings were released today. In that February report, the online agency downgraded its underlying EBITDA guidance for FY26 to $28-29 million; a $2-3M trim.

The company also sees “challenging trade” continuing for the time being.

Webjet currently has a $304M market cap, down -11.9% YTD.

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