France: Compagnie des Alpes Acquires Majority Stake in Travelfactory
The French operating group Compagnie des Alpes (CdA), whose portfolio includes leisure parks as well as winter sports and ski resorts, has acquired a majority stake of 73 percent in France-based Travelfactory, a specialist in vacation rentals and in the organization of ski holiday group trips, in order to expand its existing range of mountain holidays and accommodation offerings and to gain access to younger clients.
Founded in 2000, Travelfactory developed an expansive group travel and ski equipment rental portfolio. In addition to the related brands Travelski (an online travel agency that specializes in ski holidays) and SimplytoSki (online rental of ski equipment and complementary services), the company features the Golden Voyages and Ski-line travel agencies focusing on ski holidays for students, targeting the French and Belgian markets, respectively. Furthermore, Travelfactory’s portfolio includes the online tour operator Locatour, which offers different kinds of stays throughout the year in France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland, Austria and Andorra. Travelfactory also runs an extensive network of white label partnerships for sites such as Lastminute.com and Départ1825.
Thanks to the acquisition of equity shares, CdA more than doubles the number of its existing accommodation offering in ski resorts, adding tourist residences, apartments under management and private apartments. Also, Travelfactory has a network of 13 real estate agencies located in ski resorts in France and operating under the brand names Ski&Soleil and Alpesforyou.
In the next four years, CdA has the possibility of gradually acquiring the remaining 27 percent of equity shares via put/call option mechanism from Yariv Abehsera, Founder and Chairman of Travelfactory. The partial acquisition was fully consolidated as of January 1st, 2018. (eap)
