New acquisition for Vertical - 16/09/2009
Vertical buys controlling stake in Villas for Travel
PRESS RELEASE
15th September 2009
Vertical Group takes a controlling stake in Villas for Travel
Today Vertical Group acquired a majority share holding in Villas for Travel, the villa
specialist offering over 1000 holiday properties in 14 countries for an undisclosed sum.
Vertical Group recently bought the trading assets of homeworking company Holiday
Experts.
The deal enables Vertical Group to have a controlling stake in a growing consumer
specialist villa brand and to maximise sales across the platforms developed and serviced
for the UK travel trade.
Peter Healey CEO of the Vertical Group said
“We are delighted with this deal which enables us to provide the villa product that our
customers were requesting and differentiate our accommodation service to the travel
trade with a unique range of holiday accommodations worldwide”.
The deal also enables the Villas for Travel product to be sold to agents and customers
using bedbank.com which is operated by Vertical Group. The Vertical Group is one of
the longest established and largest providers of technology to the UK travel industry
providing front and back office solutions, Web services including white label and bespoke websites , and VOIP services for travel companies.
Catalina Vera Pile, Sales Manager of bedbank.com commented “We had been looking for
this type of high quality villa product for some time and it is very exciting to have a range of top quality villas and apartments to offer our customers”.
in such a broad range of markets”.
Villas for Travel was set up in 2006 by Kathryn Bullock with venture capital from the
Trapezia fund set up by Stargate Capital who will continue to remain shareholders. She
will work closely with the new shareholder over the next few months to deal with the
integration of the business and its technology platform.
Kathryn Bullock Founder and MD of Villas for Travel said
“I am pleased that Vertical Group will be able to develop the Villas for Travel brand
further and to take it to its next level of growth. They have the right team, resources and
infrastructure in Essex to really expand the business which is very exciting. I look
forward to working with the team to achieve this and to develop the many future
opportunities for the business both in the UK and abroad.
ENDS