Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz have advised on Chinese online travel company Ctrip International’s purchase of a portion of Expedia Inc’s stake in rival eLong Inc.
Expedia has sold its entire equity stake in eLong to Ctrip and other investors for a total of $671 million. Ctrip’s purchase from Expedia amounted to $400 million, or a 37.6 percent stake in eLong.
In addition, Ctrip and Expedia have agreed to cooperate with each other to allow their respective customers to benefit from certain travel product offerings for specified geographic markets, Ctrip said in a statement.
A Skadden team led by Hong Kong partners Julie Gao and Haiping Li, and Los Angeles partner Michael Gisser, advised Ctrip on the transaction. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz represented Expedia.
U.S.-based Expedia first acquired a 30 percent stake in eLong in 2004. The online travel company increased its stake to 62.4 percent in 2011 to capitalise on the growing Chinese travel market.