London-based travel management company Blue Cube has been acquired
by Talma Travel Solutions, joining fellow UK agency Norad in the Israeli
company’s portfolio. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed but the deal structure is a mix of cash and shares and Norad acted as the acquiring vehicle.

It is the latest deal in a succession of investments over
the last two years that have seen Talma take controlling stakes in US agency
Brickell Travel, and ownership in hotel booking platform Arbitrip and online booking engine
Alice, as well as the Hampshire-based Norad Travel Group which it acquired in full in March 2022.

Blue Cube was founded in 2003 and serves customers in a range
of industries including technology, communications and financial and legal
services.

The combined business of Norad and Blue Cube, which were
ranked the 30th and 33rd largest TMCs in the UK this year
with sales of £35 million and £30 million respectively, would put the merged
entity on the brink of the UK’s top 20 corporate travel agencies.

“We continue to pursue a strategy of global expansion
through overseas mergers and acquisitions, and technology led
innovations driven by our team of 100 developers,” said Iya Magen, CEO
of Talma Travel Solutions.

Magen told BTN Europe in an in-depth interview about the deal and Talma’s wider growth plans that Blue Cube and Norad would continue to operate as separate brands “for now” but the companies would come together under the leadership of Blue Cube founders Mel Phaure and Kenny Stirling. Talma is also working on another acquisition in the United States, Magen added.

“The US and UK are the two main markets we’re focusing on. We are looking to create a much more significant presence from a turnover point of view in both countries,” said Magen who specified a target of being in the “top five UK TMCs within the next two years” and achieving “$1 billion in turnover in the US within the next few years”.

Blue Cube’s Phaure and Stirling said via a
statement provided to BTN Europe: “We are delighted to be merging with Talma
and Norad to increase our share in the UK market and extend our reach globally.
This allows us to further expand our technology offering whilst being able to
keep our high touch concierge service to our valued client base.”

Talma operates 15 offices worldwide and employs around 500
people, and is expected to confirm further acquisitions in North America
later this year.

At the time of Talma’s acquisition of Norad, Deborah Potts,
director of Summit Advisory which brokered the deal, described it as a “quality
deal”, as opposed to a “distressed deal”, and was driven by the acquirer’s
strategy to “gain a footprint in the UK and a firm foundation from which to
grow further.”

• Read more about the acquisition and Talma’s ambitious growth plans in an in-depth interview with Iya Magen.