The majority of the equity in travel management company Garber/FCm Travel Solutions will not be sold to minority stakeholder Australia-based FCm Travel Solutions, said Garber/FCm president and CEO Roz Garber, contradicting what newly appointed president of FCm Travel Solutions in North America Dan O'Brien told
BTN earlier this month.
Garber told
BTN there are no plans, intentions, or negotiations for selling the remaining 75 percent majority equity outright. "There has been no sale nor is there one coming soon. I am not entertaining that at this time. The investment was to be part of the global network and be part of their agencies around the world," said Garber, who added that the company recently closed its first global account, a Latin American-based company with an $800,000 U.S. booked air volume, which is now handled by Garber.
"We've got to be able to prove to them that it's worthwhile for the shareholders of that company," O'Brien said in a previous interview
(BTNonline, Aug. 20). "Flight Centre has always said that we would like to have 100 percent ownership of all businesses that we have equity in."
With no definitive timeframe for a buyout, O'Brien said the immediate focus was developing a business growth strategy. "It's completely up to Garber in regards to when they possibly might like to sell us the rest," he said. "We've made an investment with them at this point and we believe that we want to start a working relationship with them. They are a very efficient and professional organization. We're coming up with a strategy of how we [the board] grow Garber and what relationship the owners have with regards to this company. At this point, our number one focus is developing and establishing a joint future growth strategy for that type of business together and I'm sure the relationship will get closer as that develops."
While, FCm has one of nine seats on the company's board of directors, Garber said the company has had little interaction with day-to-day operations, but both entities are working in a symbiotic relationship to grow each other's business, especially in leveraging technology to better serve U.S. clients. By year-end, Garber plans to roll out a new agent point-of-sale application, which uses both GDS and non-GDS content via a relationship with G2 Switchworks, according to Garber. The company also is working on a data consolidation program for multinational accounts via Cornerstone Information System's iBank, but there is no planned release date.
FCm owns a 25 percent minority stake in the joint venture following a January acquisition
(BTN, Feb. 5). Garber chairman of the board Chuck Hill and an owner representing the Garber family own the remaining 75 percent of the company, according to Garber. The company handles many of FCm's more than $2 million travel spending accounts, while multinational accounts of similar size based in the Great Lakes region are managed by FCm's Chicago office, the former Bannockburn Travel Management, which it acquired in 2006. The Australia-based FCm provides services for about 470 U.S. corporate accounts with at least $300,000 in air spending, according to O'Brien.