After seven years of ownership by venture capital firm Genstar and Bain Capital, TravelClick, a hospitality tech provider based in New York, has been acquired by Thoma Bravo, a US private equity group, for $930 million.
To learn more, Tnooz spoke with Jonathan Cherins, executive vice president, Americas and enterprise.
Cherins wouldn't disclose specifics of the deal, but said that it represented "a validation" of the TravelClick's strategy, set by CEO Larry Kutscher. Says Cherins:
"The infusion of capital form Thoma Bravo is going to allow us to continue the vision the management team outlaid three years ago."
He expects TravelClick to net revenues north of $300 million in 2014. That would be up from the $257 million that the company booked in 2012, according to the ratings agencies Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s, and the $300 million Kutscher told the Wall Street Journal the company earned in 2013.
A source told the Journal the purchase price was three times what Genstar paid to acquire majority shares in the company in 2007, though that is unconfirmed.
How can TravelClick feel confident it will meet its revenue goals for 2013? Cherins says:
"We have a track record of delivering on our goals and commitments of growth. In the three years I've been here, sales have grown more than 35%. We feel good about the health of the lines of businesses and customer receptivity."
Why is the new acquisition a validation of the management team?
"We came with a clear vision of what we wanted the company to be. We executed organically by using our capital wisely to improve our reservations product, to improve our business intelligence product, to invest in our people and our distribution network.
We also executed inorganically, with acquisitions of Rubicon and EZYield -- to round out the product portfolio."
Genstar's and Bain's money let TravelClick grow through two significant acquisitions. Might TravelClick go shopping again?
"We're looking to help our customers drive revenue, wherever they might be, and it's an ongoing process, both organically and inorganically."
How does TravelClick differentiate itself in the market?
"While in certain spots and segments we might be known for any one specific service, our solutions are broader than that: reservations, business intelligence, our media products, our web solutions. There's no one solution that we're most focused on....
We don't have any competitor that offers the same breadth of services as we do.
We talk a lot about how TravelClick is both global from a scale perspective but inherently local when we do business.
As you know, a hotel in New York market is different from one in the heartland of America or in Australia. To have our distribution network in-market allows us to maintain personal relationships and tailor our solutions appropriately to the client."
What does the fresh ownership represent?
"It's a validation of our having consistently executed against a clear vision. Our vision is that we are looking to help hotels grow their revenue properly across all of their business lines. We make all our business decisions in investing in technology and staffing and products in light of that.
Articulating a clear vision and coming back to that vision on a regular basis for our people, our employees, our customers, our shareholders -- and using that as a bellwether and making all decisions, no matter how big or small, on whether they meet that strategy -- we do that regularly."
For more details, see: TravelClick sold for $930 million, giving exit to Genstar and this Tnooz profile of the company.