Acquisition of Monarch – The start of things to come

The acquisition of Monarch by private equity firm Greybull will be the fore runner to a number of substantial travel acquisitions by private equity firms. Chris Lee, Head of Travel at Barclays, wrote an article in the travel press this week highlighting that most travel M&A activity was emanating from private equity with little happening within the trade apart from acquisitions by UAE based dnata. Private equity firms are seeking opportunities due to the fact that they are currently “cash rich” in contrast to the UK travel trade – The Big Two are certainly not in the market at present.