HOTELBEDS GROUP, a global bedbank and business-to-business
provider of services to the travel industry, has announced today plans for
Tourico Holidays to merge with its bedbank business unit.
Commenting on the news, Joan Vilà, Executive Chairman of
Hotelbeds Group said: “With the backing of Cinven and CPPIB we are entering the
next phase of our development since becoming an independent company back in
September. Therefore it gives me great pleasure to announce that Tourico
Holidays will join Hotelbeds Group. Tourico Holidays has a well-deserved
reputation for excellence and innovation that I have respected for many years.
I look forward to working with its experienced leadership team.
“The proposed deal will enable us to enhance our footprint,
especially in Tourico Holidays’ home market of North America whilst they will
benefit from belonging to Hotelbeds Group´s global network. Together we will
combine our best in class technology and distribution expertise for the benefit
of both our hotel partners and clients. For the time being, both businesses
will continue as usual, focusing on our top priority: providing the best
possible service to our hotel partners and clients.”
Tourico Holidays’ CEO, Uri Argov added: “We´re very excited
about what this deal can mean to the B2B travel industry. Tourico Holidays’
management team looks forward to bringing together these two great businesses
in order to better serve our combined supplier and client base. At a cultural
level, this deal is strong because our two organisations are both
entrepreneurial, dynamic and high energy – and just like Hotelbeds Group, we´re
passionate about what we do and focus hard on execution.”
Tourico Holidays will continue to operate as an independent
business while a long term strategy is developed to find the most appropriate
way to combine the businesses. The transaction is subject to customary
regulatory and anti-trust approvals.