Desi czar sells e-dream for #85 mn

Dinesh Dhamija is expected to earn 85 million pounds with the sale of his travel website 'Ebookers'.

NRI entrepreneur Dinesh Dhamija, one of the richest Asians in Britain, is expected to earn 85 million pounds with the sale of his travel website 'Ebookers', to US hotel and car rental giant Cendant in a multi-million pound deal, a report said on Friday.

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Dhamija, who owns around 40 per cent of the company, has been working on a sale of Ebookers for months following several profit warnings and he will step down after the 209 million pound deal, taking around 85 million pounds in the process, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Cendant, which is believed to have faced competition from private equity houses and from Priceline.Com, is paying 320 pence a share in cash for Ebookers, as part of its aggressive attack on the online travel market.

It had bought US website Orbitz earlier this year. The company is behind the Avis and Budget car rental firms as well as hotel franchises including Ramada and Howard Johnson.
The Shares of Ebookers were above 600p before the war in Iraq but plunged to 140p last July after a profit warning. They have since recovered on the back of speculation about a sale and were yesterday trading up 3 1/2 at 315 1/2p.

According to sources, Dhamija will leave once the formalities are over and the sale is completed which should be in early 2005.

A statement issued by Dhamija said he would "remain available" to Cendant as a consultant. In the past quarter, Ebookers made a loss of 1.0 million pounds on sales of 20 million pounds.
Ebookers has websites that serve 13 European countries.