Tzell Travel Group and Travel Acquisitions Group today signed an agreement to merge and operate Tzell as a stand-alone unit within the TAG travel company portfolio. Tzell president and CEO Barry Liben also becomes CEO of TAG as current TAG chairman and CEO Mike Batt retains the role of chairman.
Details of the merger agreement were not disclosed. The combined organizations handle about $2 billion in sales. Company-owned combined with franchise operations have nearly $7 billion in annual sales.
According to
BTN's2008 Business Travel Survey, New York-based Tzell processed 648,949 ARC air transactions and $531.1 million in ARC sales in 2007. The increasingly acquisitive Tzell acquired 11 U.S. agencies in 2007 and several others in 2006. Last summer, Tzell's management completed a buyout from Irish travel holding company CNG Travel.
Batt will remain a "hands-on" chairman and there are no operating changes for Tzell or TAG's other business units, according to a TAG spokesperson. In March, TAG—formerly Carlson Leisure Group—acquired Coral Gables, Fla.-based TMC TraveLeaders and began an aggressive shift toward corporate travel through technology investment and M&A activity
(BTNonline, May 12).
TAG's business units include leisure divisions, franchisor operations under the Travel Franchise Group banner, which includes Travel Leaders—the rebranded Carlson Wagonlit Travel Associates, as of yesterday—and ProQuest Travel Group, which houses some corporate travel management operations.