What If Sabre Put Its Hotel Software Unit in Play

Travel technology company Sabre this year internally discussed an asset sale of part or all of its hotel software services unit to Oracle, which also has a hotel software business, according to multiple people familiar with the companies.

"We do not comment on market rumors or speculation," said a spokesperson when asked if Sabre had engaged this year in talks about selling its hospitality unit. Oracle, a potential buyer, didn't respond to requests for comment.

Sabre, based in Southlake, Texas, and Oracle, based in Austin, Texas, have been on each other's radar. Oracle Hospitality's current leader Alex Alt was previously president of Sabre Hospitality Solutions. Oracle Hospitality's previous leader Greg Webb was formerly vice chairman of Sabre.

Perella Weinberg Partners (PWP), a financial advisor to Sabre on $1.1 billion secured and exchangeable note offerings in the depths of the pandemic, may have suggested an asset sale, according to speculation. A spokesperson for PWP declined to comment.

An asset sale would give Sabre extra capital firepower. But there's no external sign that the company can't manage its debt load. The added benefit from putting it in play might be that Sabre could assess what the unit is worth to help justify internally further investment.

"We noted in our recent second quarter 2022 earnings call that Sabre ended the quarter with a cash balance of about $1 billion and that we continue to expect free cash flow to turn positive in the fourth quarter of 2022," a spokesperson said. "This free cash flow generation will, in turn, help enable us to achieve our deleveraging goals."

Rating agency Moody's reaffirmed in August a stable outlook for Sabre's capa