Winners, wipeouts and travel tech bets: M&A in travel

Merger and acquisition activity has been increasing in the travel technology world. Recent headlines bear out the trend and the figures back it up. There are a number of companies focused on a travel technology roll-up that is seeing smaller players and some startups find a bigger home. But what is driving the increased activity? Are valuations more realistic and what are those acquiring companies and investors looking for?

Discussing the travel M&A trend, CEO Jaime Sastre described the acquisitions as “part of our core growth and development where we’re going to acquire strategic assets that have potential synergies with other companies we have. But we do acquisitions not just for synergies but because we are capital allocators, we have a philosophy of buy and hold forever.”

Each acquisition retains its own CEO with Sastre adding that Constellation’s belief is that software companies are “much better handled by independent CEOs that are not integrated into a large organization.”

He was joined in the PhocusWire Studio at Phocuswright Europe 2024 by Rita Lei, partner at MCF Corporate Finance, which advised Sweden’s Visit Group when PSG Equity became majority shareholder last year.

In a conversation with PhocusWire's Linda Fox, Sastre and Lei discuss travel a resetting in terms of valuations, where they are placing their bets and more.

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