The online assets being acquired comprise the Holiday Autos brand, Holiday Autos URLs and domain names, the underpinning B2B2C commercial agreements, subsidiary brands (Mietwagen, carhire4less, elmundoencoche, degrifauto and bookanddrive), white label and marketing contracts and intellectual property.
The deal does not include the Holiday Autos trade business. Travelocity Global said that one option, ‘pending further review and consultation across each of our countries, may be exiting the intensively competitive car rental trade sector’. Under a separate agreement, CarTrawler will replace Holiday Autos as the exclusive provider of car rental to lastminute.com, part of Travelocity Global.
Mike McGearty, chief executive of CarTrawler said: “The acquisition of these online assets will drive CarTrawler’s growth through diversification and increased scale and will deepen our geographic footprint. It will complement the existing aviation, travel, hospitality, leisure and consumer channels currently active across our platform.
“Our strategy is to realise the strong economic potential of the Holiday Autos assets through the platform, thereby creating enhanced value for CarTrawler, our partners, suppliers and customers”.
Matthew Crummack, president of Travelocity Europe, commented: “For the last ten years the Holiday Autos brand has been integral to Travelocity Global, and it has been our privilege to support the team to grow the business to become one of Europe’s most recognised, respected and leading car hire online aggregators.
Following the acquisition, CarTrawler will have booking volumes of 2.5m and gross sales of €500m a year.
The Ireland, Dublin based business, was set up in 2004 and provides partners in the aviation, travel, hospitality and leisure sectors with car rental solutions in 174 countries. Private equity investor, ECI Partners, took a 50% stake in CarTrawler in May 2011.
Holiday Autos was established in 1987 by Travel Weekly Group owner Clive Jacobs. In 2003 it was sold for £43m to lastminute.com, which was subsequently taken over by Sabre Holdings in 2005, becoming part of Travelocity Global.
According to the Holiday Autos website - "Over its 25 years of operation Holiday Autos has become recognised as the largest and leading international car hire broker for leisure. Established in 1987 we transformed the car rental industry - becoming the first broker to offer fully-inclusive pre-paid car hire. Our mission is to provide you with a car hire experience that is easy and stress-free.
We broker the best prices from the best brands, they're all here in one easy place to search, compare and purchase cheap car hire. Every day we provide fully-inclusive pre-paid car hire - so there are no hidden extras or add-ons, the price shown is the actual price you pay. With amazing daily deals and discounts to rent a car, a fantastic choice of cars and the best city, airport and worldwide pick-up locations, why rent a car with anyone else.
We work with the most prominent global suppliers and the best local car hire operators to provide you with cheap car hire; ensuring that we can deliver you the highest level of service. Our top car hire suppliers include the likes of Alamo, Avis and Hertz. We want you to hire cars with confidence and security from an international Brand that you can trust. "
Sources: Travel weekly e-tid and Holiday Autos
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20-6-13 Travel Mole reports - BCD buys Travelocity Business
Global travel management company BCD Travel has acquired Travelocity Business. Industry insiders believe the move is designed to help Travelocity parent Sabre prepare for an IPO that will take the company public.It's part of BCD Holdings N.V., a privately held Dutch company founded in 1975 that also owns CheapTickets, BudgetAir, Park 'N Fly, and TRX.
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