Exactly eight months after the US homeworking firm bought a majority stake in wholesaler Major Travel, InteleTravel chief executive James Ferrara told TTG the agency is close to confirming another acquisition.
Ferrara said the deal would be concluded "within a week or two”, adding he hoped the "president" of the company being bought would join InteleTravel as part of the agreement.
“We’re closing on a deal as we speak," said Ferrara. "It has been closing the past couple of days. It’s a virtual closing, and there have been documents flying back and forth.
“I cannot reveal the name of the company – that will take a week or two. We want to include the president of the company, and hopefully they will now come to work with us.”
Ferrara said the company was “a first-level distributor” for the NFL and major football teams. This year, he predicts there will be strong demand for what he is calling “event travel” where customers build a trip around sport and music events.
"People are thinking about the moments they want to have in their lives,” Ferrara continued. “People are building holidays and trips around those moments. We believe this is a trend.
"There are major events coming up in 2025 like Formula 1 races, early Fifa World Cup qualifiers, and several very big music tours – Beyonce, K-Pop band BTS and Harry Styles – which are going to drive tremendous travel activity.”
Asked how the deal would benefit the now 31,000 InteleTravel agents in the UK and Ireland, Ferrara explained: “We want to give our advisors more to sell. We want to give them more ways to earn. This will give them a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
"This company is currently distributed through other channels – not the travel trade. InteleTravel advisors will have the benefit of this product. I think British InteleTravel agents will be thrilled, particularly with the distribution around football. Competitors like Ticketmaster, for example, will not have the same tickets for several weeks.”
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Ferrara said discussions around a potential acquisition with the as-yet-unnamed company have been ongoing for a year. “Any acquisition is going to be a strategic opportunity," he stressed. "We’re not just on some buying spree – there is a plan here.”
He revealed InteleTravel was also looking at “a couple of other deals”. “They are further on product opportunities, technology opportunities, they will only be realised when we’ve proved they can enhance the opportunity for our advisors and they make the company bigger and better and more competitive,” Ferrara added.
