Australia's Flight Centre Travel Group acquired
a 24.1 percent stake in Buenos Aires-based travel agency BibAm for US$7
million. The investment earns Flight Centre "low-risk entry to large Latin
American markets via the Biblos leisure, corporate and wholesale agency."
The deal also gives Flight Centre access to BibAm's e-commerce platform
Avantrip, which it called "scalable," and to BibAm's software team,
which should aid development of Flight Centre's mobile offerings. Flight
Centre's brands include FCM Travel Solutions and Corporate Traveller.