Bird & Bird has advised the management team of Nordic online travel agent, Etraveli, in relation to the recent acquisition of the company by private equity investor CVC Capital Partners. The deal was made public on 20 June with the price of the shares being based on an enterprise value of MEUR 508 (corresponding to around MSEK 4,950).
Etraveli was formed through the merger of Seat 24 and Svenska Resegruppen in 2007. The company has changed hands a number of times over the years and among previous owners are private equity investors Norvestor and Segulah which were followed by listed German media giant ProsiebenSat1. ProsiebenSat1 now divests its holding in the company after only 18 months. Bird & Bird have advised management through all transfers over the past years.
Jan Berg, partner (Corporate, M&A), led the project, working with partners Rickard Poppelman (Corporate) and Carl-Magnus Uggla (Tax).
Rickard Poppelman, Partner, Bird & Bird says: "The company's success over a few cycles of private equity ownership is a good example of how the private equity model for incentivizing management in portfolio companies and aligning the interests of the investor and management can work for the benefit of all parties. It has been a privilege working with management in this deal and hopefully many to come."