MCI Management fund bought a stake of Invia operating in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The transaction was worth PLN 10-50m (EUR 2.9m-14.6m).
“The transaction decreases the danger of expansion from Expedia, world’s biggest player in this sector”, Tomasz Czechowicz, MCI Management CEO said.
Travelplanet and Invia won’t be merged but they will allow to consolidate the market further.
“There are several other attractive acquisition targets”, Tomasz Czechowicz added.
Invia and Travelplanet as a group may easier negotiate with touroperators, get lower prices and generate higher margin.
“Invia and Travelplanet have joint sales of EUR 120m. The next biggest player on the market has EUR 30m of sales”, Tomasz Czechowicz stressed.
Next year, Invia will be listed on the WSE. Invia had EUR 50m of sales in 2007. It launched operations in Slovakia in 2004, then it started businesses in Poland and Hungary. It plans to launch operations in Romania soon.
(PLN 1 = EUR 0.292)