Articles tagged “mergers and acquisitions”

Seizing smart, strategic opportunities coming out of the pandemic is top of mind at Hyatt, of course. But the Chicago-based company shouldn’t expect any bargains in its potential European brand hunt. The competition is too fierce.

Serent Capital was an investing chaperone to Revinate's acquisition of Navis. Its thesis is that the technological stars have finally aligned to produce many of the business intelligence breakthroughs that hotel companies have long sought.

Major hotel companies are massive enough. Mergers and acquisitions departments need to think more about smaller, strategic deals rather than mega-takeovers that take tens of billions of dollars and years to integrate companies.

In an intensifying superapp rivalry in Southeast Asia, Gojek handed its Thailand business to AirAsia Digital in the face of competition from Grab. While these leading superapps battle, AirAsia Digital is being taken more seriously. After all, it has airplanes and a profitable logistics business to add to the mix.

While not glamorous, the digitization of bag tagging could help airlines lose fewer pieces of luggage. Paragon, a public tech company, aims to scale up Security Label's business with customers like Air France.

Private equity firm HIG Capital has taken a majority stake in Enseo, a provider of digital in-room entertainment tech for hotels. Enseo plans to grow through acquisition. The deal is a validation of founder and CEO Vanessa Ogle's bold pivot of the tech vendor.

Sabre wins from the sale of tech vendor Airpas because it represents more progress in a multi-year streamlining of its portfolio. The airline industry might also win if Airpas's new merger with another tech company represents a wave of better cost management tools.

VTrips all but outright says that it's more profitable than its larger rival Vacasa. But we'll only know for sure if they both file to go public.

Awaze is arguably Europe's largest vacation-rentals business for managed properties. While its acquisitions this week are eye-catching, the bigger news is that it's spending roughly $40 million this year on a tech push. That will help it make better use of its assets.

Hornblower's acquisition of Walks and Lindblad's takeover of DuVine are great case studies. They show how young companies can land well even in times of crisis. The lessons ought to resonate across the travel sector.