Spanish investment fund GED Capital will continue to purchase travel operators, after it took over Happy Tour agency, in which it intends to invest 15 million euros over the next 2-3 years.
GED Capital will create a consolidated group for travel operators and apply the same strategy it used for the fund's GSM service retailers.
The main targets are travel agencies in which local entrepreneurs hold a high controlling stake, and companies where the middle-management department is weakly represented or non-existent. Other targets are travel agencies that provide corporate services.
"We buy from entrepreneurs who hold a controlling stake. What we then do is introduce middle management structures, establish clear hierarchies and ensure the management team is more professional," says Robert Luke, managing director of GED Capital Management.
In December last year, investment fund GED Eastern Fund II, a division of GED Capital Management, acquired Happy Tour travel agency from the Demetriade family, the largest travel agency on the market in terms of turnover. Luke did not wish to specify the value of the transaction, but, according to estimates, the price ranged between 5 and 10 million euros.
"We bought 100% of Happy Tour and I can safely say that in four or five years' time, when we sell it, it will have changed radically. We intend to acquire other travel operators from Romania, or from the neighbouring markets, in order to integrate them into a larger group, a strategy we used in the case of Fonomat, which consists of five GSM retailers purchased by the fund over the last two years," explains Luke.
After a string of acquisitions, GED laid the foundations of one of the strongest GSM dealers on the local market. With a network of over 165 stores throughout the country, Fonomat was the result of five Orange dealer networks being brought together under one roof - Plus GSM, Dasimpex, Lexor, Puls GSM, and GSM Land.
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