Cendant, the world's largest travel group, is on Thursday expected to announce a deal to buy Ebookers, the European internet travel site, worth about $400m.

The deal is further evidence of growing consolidation in the competitive online travel market. Cendant, which owns brands including the Ramada hotel franchise and the Avis car rental chain, recently acquired Orbitz, the second largest travel site in the US, for more than $1.2bn.