November 19th, 2008: Cox and Kings India Ltd, (CKIL), through its Australian Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), has acquired Tempo Holidays, a specialist leisure travel company based in Australia with office in New Zealand as well. The size of the acquisition is approximately US 25 million dollars. The acquisition has been funded by internal accruals and offshore debt from Axis Bank.
Speaking on the acquisition, CKIL’s Global CEO, Mr Peter Kerkar said, “Tempo Holidays is an excellent fit for us and seeing the performance of Tempo Holidays it reinforced our belief that the Australian market is ready for an upmarket brand such as Cox & Kings. Our products would be widely distributed in Australia and New Zealand.
Tempo Holidays was founded in 1990 by Susan and Gary Hearst in 1990 as Yalla Holidays. It was rebranded in 2001 as Tempo Holidays, and offers travel arrangements in over 42 countries. It has offices in Australia as well as New Zealand.
With the completion of the sale, the ownership of Tempo Holidays has been transferred to Cox and Kings (Australia) Pty Ltd.,. However, Tempo Holidays will continue to retain its name. It will continue to be an outbound travel wholesaler and the product offering of Tempo will be strengthened by CKIL.
The acquisition gives CKIL an opportunity to establish its presence in the Australian and New Zealand market. Tempo is one of the leading wholesalers in the Australian outbound tourism market. A well established player will save the time and resources that would have been necessary to establish a network of the kind operated by Tempo.
The Australian market is large as far as outbound travel is concerned and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.2 per cent until 2016.
About Cox and Kings
Cox and Kings (India) Ltd. is one of the oldest and most reputed travel organisations in India, offering a one-stop shop for the travel needs of all segments of travellers. The brand of Cox and Kings has evolved over a period of 250 years.
It specializes in Destination Management, Excursions and Leisure Travel, MICE, NRI Holidays, Trade Fairs, Car/Coach/Railway Bookings, Foreign Exchange, Business Travel, Private Air charter, Hotel Bookings, Visas/Passport/Medical insurance assistance.
Cox and Kings have won numerous awards and recognition. In the recent past, it was voted amongst the Top 10 Tour Operators by Conde Nast Traveller Awards 2008. Cox and Kings has won the CNBC Awaaz award for Most Preferred Travel Operator in 2007 & the Abacus-TAFI awards for the Best Outbound Tour Operator as well as the Best Domestic Tour operator in 2007.
Cox and Kings has also won the Government of India’s National Tourism Award for Conferences, for seven years & the National Tourism Award for the Best Domestic Operator for three years.
At the Galileo Express Awards, it won the Best Outbound Tour Operator award in 2002-03 and since then for three years in a row, it has won the Best Domestic Tour Operator award. In 2005-06, it bagged the award for the Best Technology Programme in the travel industry.
Cox and Kings’ registered office is situated in Mumbai, India and has 41 offices within India. We have a large network of over 3500 GSAs and PSAs across India. We have 10 international branch offices and subsidiaries in USA, UK, Japan, UAE, Russia, Singapore and Australia. We have representative offices in Spain, South Africa, Italy, France, Australia, Sweden and Germany. Our global reach and passion for travel uniquely positions us to offer multiple travel choices and value for our products.
For further details contact:
Thomas C Thottathil, Head – Corporate Communications, Cox and Kings (I) Ltd
Cell phone: 9820191042; [email protected]
Praneeta D’Souza, Manager – Corporate Communications, Cox and Kings (I) Ltd
Cell phone: 9820958528; [email protected]
Visit us at http://www.coxandkings.co.in/cnk/cnk.do
