DENVER -- Navigant International Inc. here said it acquired
Arrington Travel Center Inc., of Chicago, and Atlas Travel Services
Ltd., of Houston, in cash deals. Financial terms were not
disclosed.
Arrington, with $223 million in annual air sales, is one of the
largest independent agencies in the Chicago area and one of the 20
largest agencies in the U.S. Atlas, a member of Bethesda, Md.-based
Woodside Travel Trust, is one of the nation's largest providers of
24-hour traveler services.
Arrington founder Michael Arrington will remain as chairman and
chief executive officer of the agency and will become president of
Navigant's central region.
Atlas will be merged with SuperTravel, Navigant's existing
Houston-based operation, according to Atlas president Ariel
Leibovitz. Leibovitz added that the merger will take place during
the next several months and that he will serve as chief executive
officer of the resulting company.
The Atlas-SuperTravel merger and Arrington will be wholly owned
subsidiaries of Navigant.
"Our long-term plan is to establish a strong presence in each of
the 25 largest corporate travel markets in the U.S.," said Ed
Adams, chairman and chief executive officer of Navigant. "The
acquisition of Arrington Travel Center provides us with a strong
entrance into Chicago and the Midwest, one of the largest travel
markets in the country. The addition of Atlas Travel makes Navigant
the largest travel agency in Southeast Texas."
The transactions represent a departure for Navigant. When the
company was a unit of U.S. Office Products, it acquired travel
agencies in deals that were mostly if not exclusively for common
stock. In early June, Navigant had a less than stellar initial
public offering. Arrington said, "Navigant probably feels their
stock right now is undervalued. If the stock were a lot higher,
they probably would have proposed a stock tranasaction." He added
that a stock transaction "wasn't an option."