WILMINGTON, N.C. -- Nielsen Travel, a 4-year-old agency based here
with $4 million in annual volume, completed acquisitions of three
single-branch agencies: Astral Travel and Allen Travel, both of
Wilmington and both with $3.5 million in sales, and the $1.2
million Abby Travel of Charlottesville, Va.
The acquisitions continue the company's march toward its goal of
growing to a $100 million firm by year's end, president Rick
Nielsen said. He added that the firm expects to acquire 20 to 25
more companies before the close of the year.
The acquisition of Abby Travel marks Nielsen's first foray
outside North Carolina, Nielsen said, adding that the company
planned to expand further within the tristate region of North
Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
Both the Astral and Allen acquisitions were brokered by
Innovative Travel Acquisitions (ITA) of Roswell, Ga., capping a
busy two-week period for the company, ITA president Bob Sweeney
said.
Among other recent ITA transactions was the sale of Apex Travel,
a $40 million agency with locations in Washington, Oregon and
California, to Boston-based Fugazy Executive Travel, adding to the
public company's stable of more than 100 locations and more than
$100 million in volume.
ITA also announced it had served as a transaction agent for
3-year-old Seattle-based Zuno Travel, which closed this week on the
acquisition of Portland, Ore.-based Beaverton Travel. A
single-branch agency, Beaverton had volume of $10 million in
1999.
The move marks Zuno's entry into the Portland market. Zuno,
which has acquired 18 offices during the last 15 months, is
currently negotiating acquisitions with six agencies in Washington,
five in Portland, and one in Phoenix, according to Zuno president
Duane Dahl.