The Tui Group has announced the completion of the sale of Hotelbeds, the global bedbank, for €1.19 billion ($2.12 billion) to the London-based private equity firm Cinven Capital Management and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Regulatory authorities have given final approval to the deal—it has been the most significant news development of the year in the tourism industry—which was announced late last April. Several months earlier, Tui had put its bedbank unit up for sale, saying that it wanted to focus on its core tourism
In its announcement, Tui, which is Europe’s largest tour operator, said it “continues its transformation to an integrated tourism group with main focus on hotel and cruise businesses”
Fritz Joussen, Tui Group chief executive, explained that “these are primarily hotel and cruise businesses. We will use the proceeds to continue our growth roadmap for our hotel and cruise portfolio and further strengthen our balance sheet.”
According to Travel Weekly UK, TUI will provide a strategy update, including details regarding the reinvestment of proceeds from the disposal, at the presentation of its results for financial year 2015/16 on Dec. 8.
Meanwhile, Hotelbeds chairman Joan Vilà said: “Becoming an independent company with the backing of Cinven and CPPIB now allows us to invest and focus strongly on our three core capabilities: technology, innovation and distribution – further enhancing our portfolio of revenue-generating services for customers, in particular in the fast-growing bedbank sector where we see strong growth and consolidation opportunities.”
The London-based Cinven is a global private equity firm with offices in 9 international locations in Europe, Asia and North America. Hotelbeds headquarters are located in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
