Helloworld Travel has revealed that its $32.5 million acquisition of Magellan Travel Group will be finalised by the end of this month.
In an ASX announcement, the groups CEO Andrew Burnes explained that the purchase, which was announced in December last year, had taken slightly longer than expected.
Andrew Burnes, CEO & GM helloworld
“We initially believed the transaction would settle in January however due to some complexities with the Magellan membership structure it has taken longer than initially anticipated for Magellan to complete the transaction”.
Helloworld Travel CEO Andrew Burnes.
“We are confident that the transaction will now complete by the end of the month,” Burnes said.
The deal will see Magellan continue to operate in its current form under the Helloworld Travel umbrella.
Around 130 Magellan affiliated Travel Agents will cross over with the business along with Magellan’s Managing Director, Andrew Macfarlane, and other members of the Magellan management team.
Burnes said the acquisition would benefit both businesses by allowing Magellan to follow through with plans to consolidate its position while improving the scale of Helloworld’s operations in Australia.
“Many of these Agents were originally with Helloworld and its predecessors in years gone by and with the significant changes we have made in the Helloworld business over the last two years we are looking forward to welcoming them back,” he said.
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