Travelopia has announced plans to start the process of selling its education division.
The division, which is led by managing director Brendan Jones, comprises 10 brands, including UK-based Travelbound, SkiBound, JCA and World Challenge and a further six brands in North America.
The company said the sale process would be assisted by external advisors GCA Altium, and follows the acquisition of Travelopia by leading global investment firm KKR in June last year.
Will Waggott, chief executive of Travelopia said: “Experiential travel is at the heart of what we do across our Travelopia brands and, as such, we have been evaluating opportunities to further boost our presence in this market.
"Our education division is a fantastic collection of experiential businesses, however, the business model, and therefore the processes and requirements, of these brands differs radically to that of the rest of the Travelopia portfolio, in that for most businesses the customer is the teacher, rather than the final consumer. Given there is also growing interest in these businesses from various sectors, we have decided to put the education division up for sale in the spring.
“We are confident that there will be strong demand from potential purchasers and investors to back such a high quality collection of brands with exciting growth potential, and that a great new home will be found for the Division outside of Travelopia.”
Proceeds from the sale will be re-invested across Travelopia in elements such as enhanced technology and synergistic acquisitions.
The move follows the sale of Travelopia from Tui AG to KKR for €369 million in June last year.
Travelopia’s portfolio of 53 brands covers sailing adventures, tailor-made holidays, sports tours, school expeditions, private jet travel and polar expedition cruises.
It has an international customer base of more than 800,000 travellers each year, and serves more than 70 destinations globally.