HolidayCheck Group AG
TOMORROW FOCUS AG acquires majority stake in Dutch online travel agent Tjingo/ Joint plans to expand hotel ratings platform HolidayCheck.nl
TOMORROW FOCUS AG / Key word(s): Acquisition Corporate News TOMORROW FOCUS AG acquires majority stake in Dutch online travel agent Tjingo/ Joint plans to expand hotel ratings platform HolidayCheck.nl Munich, Germany, 28 March 2012 -TOMORROW FOCUS AG’s acquisition of a 55 percent stake in the Tjingo Group, which operates the Dutch online travel agent Tjingo.nl, will take effect on 1 April 2012. Managing Directors Jan van der Tempel and Björn Huiskes, who set up the company in 2005, hold the remaining 45 percent stake in the company. A further agreement has been signed covering the acquisition of the remaining shares. The price paid for the takeover is in the single-figure millions and will be settled partly in cash. Another component of the deal is the licence for the Dutch hotel ratings platform HolidayCheck.nl operated by the TOMORROW FOCUS subsidiary HolidayCheck AG. The aim is to introduce HolidayCheck rapidly into the Dutch market under the direction of the management team at Tjingo. To this end, there are plans to add new Dutch content and to translate existing international content into Dutch. Given the considerable overlap between the areas favoured by German and Dutch holidaymakers, HolidayCheck’s collection of six million ratings can be used as a good starting point to quickly build up a strong profile in the Dutch hotel ratings market. From 1 April 2012, HolidayCheck.nl will soon be the only Dutch hotel ratings platform able to broker package deals. Tjingo.nl is based in Woerden and is one of the most successful online package tour brokers in the Netherlands. In an Internet survey conducted in 2011, it was voted the country’s best online travel agent. Tjingo has a long record of growth and profitability. The Tjingo portal will remain independent of HolidayCheck and continue to expand. With a population of almost 17 million and very widespread Internet usage, the country is an attractive market for a wide range of activities in the field of package holiday sales. According to industry estimates, in the Netherlands around 40 to 50 percent of all package tours are booked online. The takeover also allows TOMORROW FOCUS AG to speed up its plans for the international expansion of HolidayCheck AG, reflecting a strategy of developing both fast-growing and more established markets. The aim is to harness network effects between the markets as a way of generating new content. Further acquisitions are planned as part of this strategy. Stefan Winners, CEO at TOMORROW FOCUS AG Björn Huiskes, founder and managing director of Tjingo About Tjingo About HolidayCheck AG The company is based in Bottighofen, just across the Swiss border from the German town of Constance on Lake Constance. With over two hundred employees, HolidayCheck AG currently handles package holidays worth over EUR 600 million a year. The idea of setting up a holiday ratings platform was first mooted in 1999. The company was subsequently founded in 2003. Today, with over 23 million visits every month (German Information Society for Measuring the Distribution of Advertising Media – IVW, January 2012), HolidayCheck AG operates the most important German-language holiday ratings portal as well as a TÜV-certified travel agency. About TOMORROW FOCUS AG TOMORROW FOCUS AG (ISIN DE005495329) is based in Munich, Germany, and is one of the leading exchange-listed Internet groups in Germany. Media & Investor Relations contact: phone: +49 (0)89 9250-1256 Photo material and logos can be found in our media newsroom at End of Corporate News 30.03.2012 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP – a company of EquityStory AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. DGAP’s Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Media archive at www.dgap-medientreff.de and www.dgap.de |
Language: | English | |
Company: | TOMORROW FOCUS AG | |
Neumarkter Str. 61 | ||
81673 München | ||
Germany | ||
Phone: | +49 (0)89 9250-1256 | |
Fax: | +49 (0)89 9250-2403 | |
E-mail: | a.blohmann@tomorrow-focus.de | |
Internet: | www.tomorrow-focus.de | |
ISIN: | DE0005495329 | |
WKN: | 549532 | |
Listed: | Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover, München, Stuttgart | |
End of News | DGAP News-Service |
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