Talma Shlomo Travel Solutions has agreed a deal to acquire UK travel management company Norad Travel Group.
The acquisition of Hampshire-based Norad Travel is part of Israel-based Talma’s global expansion plans. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
Norad Travel, which operates as both a corporate and leisure agency, has been a strategic partner to Talma for the past six years and the cash acquisition will combine the two operations. Norad Travel was ranked as the UK's 35th largest TMC in the list of Europe's Leading TMCs 2021.
Financial director Tara Foy and operations director Anna McGurk will continue as directors of Norad Travel while managing director Linda Foote will retire after 40 years.
Norad’s chairman Mick Gibbs will continue as a non-executive director and will assist Talma with its continued international expansion.
Iya Magen, CEO of Talma, said: “We are excited by the acquisition of Norad Travel and welcome the team to Talma.
“The two businesses have got to know each other over recent years, and our shared values and operating culture ensure a complementary fit. In addition, the technology roadmaps of each business provide a powerful platform from which we will drive future innovation and deliver increased client satisfaction.”
Gibbs added: “We have got to know the Talma team well and believe in their ambitions to build a global travel entity.
“I am particularly happy to see the talent and technology from both organisations come together to create a world-class travel business, which will deliver great service to clients, suppliers, and partners alike.”
Talma Travel and Tourism was set up in 1987 and renamed Talma Shlomo Travel Solutions this year. It offers travel services to more than 3,000 clients across multiple industries and has more than 200 employees across five locations.
Business growth, mergers and acquisitions specialist Summit Advisory who brokered the takeover described it as a “quality deal” as opposed to a “distressed deal”.
“It’s often not apparent from headlines which [deals] are which given the confidential nature of transactions,” Summit Advisory director Deborah Potts told BTN Europe, adding that the Norad-Talma deal was “very much a quality deal” driven by the acquirer’s strategy to “gain a footprint in the UK and a firm foundation from which to grow further.”
Potts noted Norad was already a “trusted, sound and highly reputable” partner of Talma. “We knew both CEOs and very much saw this union as a marriage made in heaven, [and] so initiated formal deal discussions.”
Describing the wider TMC market in the UK, Potts said: “During the last two ‘Covid’ years there have undoubtedly been more distressed deals than quality deals that we have heard of.
“Existing UK players and even the occasional new one have sought to shore up their own trading and futures by opportunistic acquisitions of distressed businesses. Sadly, these rarely represent real value for sellers but may mean survival in some form.”