NEW YORK (Standard & Poor's) March 8, 2006--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services today assigned its 'BBB' rating to Sabre Holdings Corp.'s $400 million senior unsecured notes due 2016. Southlake, Texas-based Sabre (BBB/Stable/--) is a major provider of travel marketing and distribution services to the travel industry. "The ratings on Sabre reflect its leading position in several of its major businesses and a relatively strong financial profile, even following the 2005 $1.2 billion acquisition of lastminute.com," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Betsy Snyder. "However, the company operates in competitive and cyclical businesses and has a fairly aggressive acquisition strategy." Sabre owns one of the largest computer reservations system (CRS), responsible for booking approximately 36% of travel agency airline reservations worldwide.
