Time Out Owner Oakley Eyes Lastminute Swoop

The entrepreneur who owns London's Time Out magazine is courting one of the darlings of the original internet boom with a takeover bid for Lastminute.com.

Sky News has learnt that Oakley Capital, which is run by Peter Dubens, one of Britain's most successful technology investors, is among a small number of parties trying to acquire Lastminute from its US parent.

Initial bids for the company, which was founded by Brent Hoberman and Baroness Lane Fox in the late 1990s, were tabled earlier this month, with Oakley understood to be among the leading bidders.

Any purchase of Lastminute would be for a fraction of the £600m that Sabre Holdings, a travel and tourism technology group, paid for it in 2005.

Sky News revealed in August that Sabre had appointed bankers at Houlihan Lokey, an advisory firm, to oversee an auction of the website.

In a subsequent statement, Tom Klein, Sabre president and chief executive, said: "As part of Sabre, lastminute.com has significantly improved its technology and operations, and is now perfectly positioned to unlock its full growth and profitability potential."

"The decision to review strategic options for lastminute.com supports Sabre’s strategy to focus on our core business as the world’s leading technology provider to the global travel and tourism industry."

A sale of Lastminute could still be aborted if the terms of a deal are not sufficiently attractive to Sabre, but sources said that the US company was prepared to accept a substantial loss on the sum it paid in 2005.

Mr Dubens has built a reputation as a shrewd investor in leisure, media and technology assets, and is chairman of the telecoms group Daisy, which is in the process of being taken private.

In 2010, Oakley bought Time Out London, eventually turning it into a free sheet, and last year acquired its New York sister title.

Besides Oakley, other possible buyers of Lastminute include rival private equity firms or online travel groups such as Expedia, although it is unclear whether any of them have tabled offers.

It has four main divisions, with Lastminute operating as a subsidiary of Travelocity, Sabre's group of travel e-commerce businesses.

However, Lastminute's performance has been underwhelming, despite it continuing to spend substantial sums on marketing and advertising.

Its biggest market shares are in the UK and France but it has struggled to make an impact elsewhere in Europe.

Oakley declined to comment.