Just when it looks like Cendant Corp. will slow its buying binge, the marketing giant has announced plans to go after small Internet companies.
Fresh from the acquisitions of Britain's National Parking Corp. and Royal Automobile Club for more than $2 billion, Cendant president and CEO Henry Silverman said May 5 that the Parsippany, NJ, company had completed the external part of its strategic growth plan for the year.
But two days later at the “@dtech” conference in Chicago, Cendant chairman Walter Forbes revealed to Reuters that the company was looking at Internet firms despite having existing online capabilities.
“I bet we do make a couple more investments and buy a couple more [Internet companies] in the next 12 months,'' Forbes said.
The closing date on Cendant's already announced tender offer for American Bankers Insurance, Miami, has been extended from May 6 to July 1 to allow the insurance regulatory process to be completed.
