Citibond Travel of Stanmore,
north London has acquired Emerald TMC,
the corporate business of the Emerald Group, from the administrators.
Baker Street-based Emerald ceased trading on 9 April after ABTA withdrew its licence at the end of March.
Hitesh Mehta, managing director
of Citibond Travel, whose corporate arm has more than 120 clients, said, “I
am very excited to have the Emerald TMC team on board. It is a perfect fit to
our existing corporate travel team that has been serving the corporate
traveller for over 45 years. As the world of business travel reopens it will be
very different and to have the combined experience of our teams will mean all
our clients will have the best possible levels of service and advice available
to them 24/7.”
Emerald TMC was the corporate travel management division of
Emerald Global Group, founded in 1980 by Gabriel Ng-Wong. Ng-Wong
died in February 2020 and the business was taken over by his sons. Emerald’s TMC division accounted
for around 10 per cent of the group’s £57.6 million revenues (financial year
2020).
Emerald TMC's corporate travel manager Caroline Atkinson, who joins the Citibond team, said: “I
and the whole team are delighted to be working with Citibond and Hitesh and his team who are clearly
committed to and understanding of the evolving corporate travel market and our clients.
Citibond has its head office in Stanmore and another branch in Leicester and was founded in 1974.