ROME, February 4 /PRNewswire/ --

- The European Online Accommodation Leader Adds Buy and Build Strategy to 
Strong Organic Growth

Venere.com has acquired the Italian online hotel booking
agency Worldby.com from FINB S.A. and from the company's management team,
whose members will continue in their current roles; it is foreseen that the
two companies, while leveraging important technology and commercial
synergies, will continue to manage independently their accommodation supply
partners.

The acquisition consolidates venere.com's position as one of
Europe's leading online reservations operators and the Italian market leader,
delivering an additional 2.5 million registered users - almost doubling its
customer base since the time of Advent International's 60% controlling
investment in November 2006 - and adding a further 6,000 properties to its
existing 20,000 throughout the world. It is foreseen that in 2008 the group
will generate gross bookings in excess of EUR500 million. The online hotel
reservations market is one of the fastest-growing segments of the EUR200+
billion European travel industry, in itself the largest and most attractive
travel market in the world.

Venere.com was founded in Rome in 1995 by four local
entrepreneurs: the first mover and leader in the Italian online hotel
reservations market, the company has since grown to become one of the largest
players in Europe, with offices in Paris and London, affiliated hotels
throughout the world and an internationally diversified customer base, with
Italian users currently not exceeding 20% of the total.

Worldby.com has achieved a high level of search engine
visibility through its successful use of '-by' domains, such as
Scotlandby.com and Parisby.com, creating an extremely valuable online asset.
The company provides a simple structure that allows customers to book
accommodation online in few clicks. It also offers a high degree of
personalisation, which is unusual in this industry, together with a wider
range of accommodation than is generally offered by large online booking
services; indeed, along with large hotel chains and independent hotels,
Worldby.com also features a lot of non-conventional accommodations such as
b&bs, villas, apartments, castles, farmhouses, boat houses and chalet.

Marco Ficarra, CEO venere.com, commented: "The acquisition of
Worldby.com allows us to consolidate our already strong leadership of the
Italian market while continuing our ascent up European and international
rankings, where we have rapidly achieved top competitive ratings. Our goal is
to be recognised by users and by partner hotels as the most valued online
hotel reservations site, thanks to our agency business model and to the
introduction of innovative tools specifically designed for the online
community. This is another step on our path, via steady organic growth and
buy and build strategy, to be recognized as a very active international
leader."

Stefano Galastri, CEO Worldby.com, commented: "We have long
looked at venere.com as an example in our industry, and are very proud to be
able to plan our future, and that of our hotel partners, with the potential
that we think we can now unleash within the new group; our tailored services
can prove to be beneficial to venere.com, as well, with an even broader scale
and impact than for Worldby."

http://www.venere.com

Info: Micaela Zanarini - Tel. +39-06-361921 Fax +39-06-36192555 e-mail:
zanarini@venere.com http://www.venere.com