Australia-based
Corporate Travel Management (CTM) will acquire Helloworld Corporate, the
corporate and entertainment travel business of Helloworld Travel, for $124.9
million (A$175 million).
Helloworld
Corporate operates via the brands QBT, AOT Hotels, TravelEdge and Show Grou in
Australia and APX and Atlas Travel in New Zealand.
CTM will fund
the transaction through a combination of cash (A$100 million), which it expects
to raise through a fully underwritten placement and share purchase plan, and
CTM shares to be issued to Helloworld valued at A$75 million. Helloworld will retain its leisure travel,
destination management and online operations.
Subscribe to our newsletter below
“We
are privileged to be able to acquire these businesses and are excited to be the
custodian of such a high-quality portfolio of clients,” says Jamie Pherous,
CTM’s founder and managing director.
“We feel strongly that we will be able to continue to
deliver strong product and service outcomes to their customers with our dedicated
focus.”
CTM says
the acquisition gives it reach into new verticals such as travel management for
entertainment, film, music and arts industries and conferences and events in
New Zealand, and it will help CTM expand its roster of clients in state and
federal government.
“We believe that CTM is the right home for our corporate and
entertainment travel clients in the future. We regard CTM as an excellent
operation and know they have particularly high standards of service and
proprietary customer technology in the Australian and New Zealand markets and
around the globe,” says Andrew Burnes, Helloworld’s CEO and managing director.
In
September 2020 CTM
bought U.S.-based travel management company Travel & Transport for $200
million. CTM says “upon full activity
recovery,” that acquisition, along with the addition of Helloworld Corporate,
will give it pro-forma combined revenue of A$810 million and EBITDA of A$265
million.
Completion
of the deal is expected to occur in the first quarter of 2022.