Iglu.com has been acquired by Flight Centre Travel Group

Rothschild & Co's UK mid-market team, Arrowpoint Advisory, has advised the shareholders of Iglu.com (‘Iglu’), the UK’s leading online travel agent specialising in cruise and ski holidays, on its sale to Flight Centre Travel Group (FLT), after a transformational 10-year partnership during which the business more than doubled in value to £122m.

Iglu, which operates through three websites – Igluski.com, Iglucruise.com and Planetcruise.com – was founded in 1998 to disrupt the traditional ski holiday market, providing customers with instant access to the world’s leading ski holiday suppliers and later cruise lines through its online brands.

FLT is headquartered in Brisbane, Australia, and has leisure and corporate travel business in 24 countries, spanning Australia, New Zealand, the Americas, Europe, the UK, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates and Asia. The company is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and has a market capitalisation of around $AU3bn (£1.5bn).

Since LDC invested for a minority shareholding in 2015, Iglu has increased total transaction value to £450m, passenger numbers by 67% to 250,000 and headcount by 78% to 418. It has also invested significantly in its technology and booking systems, enabling it to secure more than 75% of online bookings in the UK cruise intermediary market. Today, it offers customers access to over 50,000 cruises and 5,000 ski holidays. Post acquisition, CEO David Gooch will continue to lead the business.

David Andrews, Partner at LDC, commented: “Our partnership with Iglu is a great example of our value-adding approach to investment, as well as the value of long-term support. Whilst the business is unrecognisable in terms of its technology, market presence and scale, Richard, David and the team have remained true to their founding principles of innovating the market, building win-win relationships with suppliers and always putting the customer first. With its global presence and market-leading technology infrastructure, Flight Centre Travel Group is the perfect new partner to support Iglu’s continued expansion and represents an excellent outcome for customers as well as colleagues. We wish them every success on the next stage of their journey."

David Gooch, CEO of Iglu, added: “We choose Rothschild & Co as our advisor given their deep understanding of the travel sector, exceptional execution capabilities and global reach – all of which were instrumental throughout the deal. It has been a pleasure working closely with Jamie, Lara, Emily and the wider team and their hard-work, dedication and commercial advice was invaluable as we navigated our way through the inevitable complexities of a transaction – we are delighted with the result and look forward to continued growth with Flight Centre.”

Jamie Hutton, Managing Director at Arrowpoint Advisory, concluded: “This transaction closes the book on our long-standing relationship with Iglu, which started back in 2009 when we first sold the business. Since then we have advised Iglu on four further transactions, watched the business develop into the digitally-led clear UK market leader, culminating in this successful exit to Flight Centre. We are delighted to have supported all of the stakeholders on their exciting journey and wish David Gooch and his team every success as they move forwards under new ownership.”

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