LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
KKR, a leading global investment firm, today announces that it has
agreed to acquire Travelopia (the “Company”) from TUI AG (“TUI”). The
transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.
Travelopia, headquartered in the UK, is one of the world’s leading
specialist travel groups, providing customers with unique experiences,
such as sailing adventures, tailor-made holidays, sports tours, school
expeditions, private jet travel and polar expedition cruises. Travelopia
has a large, international customer base of over 800,000 travellers each
year and serves over 70 destinations globally through its 53 brands.
Mattia Caprioli, Member & Head of Services at KKR Europe, said: “The
high-end experiential travel market is underpinned by attractive
structural growth drivers. These include the growing value consumers
place on experiences over goods and the increasing mobility of older
travelers. We believe that Travelopia is ideally positioned to benefit
from these trends. We intend to leverage our experience in the leisure
and travel sector gained through investments such as PortAventura, Get
Your Guide, Trainline, Go-Jek and Apple Leisure, to support management
in their strategic initiatives.”
Edouard Pillot, Director & Head of Business Services at KKR Europe,
added: “KKR has a longstanding and successful track record with
corporate carve-outs, in particular in Europe. Going forward, the
company will have KKR’s full support and will be able to leverage our
technology expertise as well as our global platform. We look forward to
working with the CEO Will Waggott and his team to support Travelopia in
seizing the exciting opportunities ahead, including harnessing the
potential from digital distribution and CRM and expanding its
geographical reach, notably into China.”
Will Waggott, CEO of Travelopia, said: “KKR’s experience in the sector,
global reach and digital expertise make it the perfect partner for
Travelopia as we continue to grow. We have leading brands, loyal
customers, deep destination expertise and a highly committed employee
base, which puts us in a strong position to address the large and
growing experiential travel market opportunity. I am very excited about
the next chapter in Travelopia’s history and what it will offer our
customers.”
KKR was advised by Catalyst Partners, Rothschild, Simpson Thacher &
Bartlett, Dentons, Deloitte & Touche, and Ernst & Young.
-ends-
About KKR
KKR is a leading global investment firm that manages investments across
multiple asset classes including private equity, energy, infrastructure,
real estate, credit and hedge funds. KKR aims to generate attractive
investment returns by following a patient and disciplined investment
approach, employing world‐class people, and driving growth and value
creation at the asset level. KKR invests its own capital alongside its
partners’ capital and brings opportunities to others through its capital
markets business. References to KKR’s investments may include the
activities of its sponsored funds. For additional information about KKR
& Co. L.P. (NYSE:KKR), please visit KKR’s website at www.kkr.com and
on Twitter @KKR_Co.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170213006134/en/
Media:
UK
Finsbury
Victor Mallet, +44(0)20 7251
3801
victor.mallet@finsbury.com
or
Germany
Hering
Schuppener
Regina Frauen, +49 69 92 18 74 84
rfrauen@heringschuppener.com
Source: KKR