TRAVEL COUNSELLORS
has been acquired by
Vitruvian Partners in
a buyout from Equistone
Partners Europe.
Mladen Lukic, gm of Travel
Counsellors in South Africa,
says the investment by
Vitruvian will help Travel
Counsellors continue to
develop its offering for
travel counsellors in South
Africa and the rest of the
world.
“The presence of an
investor of Vitruvian’s
standard is going to
increase our ability to offer
even more support for travel
counsellors,” says Mladen.
“That investment is going to
be used to make sure that
we continue to develop our
systems and our support
structure to make sure that
our travel counsellors are
even more competitive.”
Vitruvian Partners has
previously backed travel
businesses Skyscanner,
JacTravel (a b2b travel
provider) and OAG (a global
provider of digital flight
information).
“The fact that we have
secured a secondary buyout
is testimony to the
confidence in the long term
growth prospects and plans
for the company,” said
Steve Byrne, chief executive
at Travel Counsellors.
Travel Counsellors
was founded in 1994
by travel entrepreneur
David Speakman, and
has expanded to include
international operations in
Ireland, the Netherlands,
Belgium, Australia, the UAE
and South Africa. In October
2014, Equistone backed a
management buy-out of the
business led by ceo Steve
Byrne.
Since then, the business
has continued to experience
growth, with annual total
transaction values growing
by £130 million (R2,18
billion) to £512 million
(R8,59 billion). Profit has
seen strong growth over
the period, growing by an
average of over 20% per
annum respectively.
