Fusioni & Acquisizioni

🏡 Juan Carlos Gonzalez, CEO of Avoris, considers Italy a strategic opportunity, with Travelplan and Welcombeds offering quality products and market adaptation. Eduard Bogatyr, tour operating Emea expansion director, aims to connect Italian airports like Rome, Milan, Venice (and more soon) to Caribbean destinations via Iberojet or partner airlines through Madrid. Avoris is focused on Italian travel agencies, offering B2B site Avoris Store, direct API connections, and Travel Compositor Marketplace. Giovanni Castelli leads the commercial team in Italy providing local support. Avoris plans to reveal future events across Italian cities and offers all-year flights to Punta Cana, Cancun, Havana, and San José, with summer operations to La Romana and Cayo Santa Maria in Cuba.

🏦 Hotelbeds, part of Hbx group, aims to launch an IPO on Spanish stock exchanges aiming to raise €750 million. Indicative offer price ranges from €10.50 to €12.50 per share, targeting a market capitalization between €2.66 and €3.03 billion. Final price determination set for February 10, with the official listing scheduled for February 13.

🏂 In Roccaraso, following an influx of tourists from Campania, a cap of 100 buses per day has been introduced. After disruptive tourist behavior escalated post-viral videos by a well-known TikToker, the Prefecture of L'Aquila implemented a filtering system on state road 17. Concerns over overtourism pertain only to non-skiers; Roccaraso remains a prestigious ski destination.

📦 Bialetti Industrie, an iconic Italian company known for its coffee makers, is in talks with potential investors including NUO Capital, a Luxembourg-based firm. However, no binding agreement has been signed yet. The negotiations are part of a larger effort to reorganize and enhance the company's value, ensuring Bialetti's market leadership and the future stability of its brand. With over 100 years of history, the company emphasizes caution as no official decision has been finalized.

🏨 In 2023, Gruppo ABC, with 14 properties and over 800 rooms, partnered with traveltech startup Hotiday, yielding a €500,000 revenue increase and a 94% occupancy rate, up 4-7% over two years. Hotiday's model involves buying a selected number of rooms (5% of total capacity) and optimizing them with technology like virtual assistants and smart TVs. The partnership expanded in 2024 to seven ABC properties. The Italian hotel sector grew in 2024 with a 54% increase in sold nights and a 63% rise in economic value.

📌 Invel Real Estate & YellowSquare's strategic partnership involves a €200 million investment targeting Italy and Southern Europe to manage 5,000 beds. Invel has experience with over 2,000 keys in the Mediterranean, while YellowSquare has 20+ years in the industry. The new investment vehicle, 100% owned by Invel, will develop assets in Italy, Spain, Greece, and Portugal. The deal is expected to close by Q1 2025. YellowSquare hosted over 100,000 guests in 2023, generating €14.4 million in revenue, a 37% increase from 2022. Upcoming YellowSquare openings include Turin, Venice, and Bologna.

🏠 Pompei, candidate for Italian Capital of Culture 2027, boasts Carmine Lo Sapio as its mayor. The city's pedestrian zone, the largest in Campania, attracts 20-30 thousand daily visitors, peaking at 100,000 on festive weekends. Post-Covid, tourism has become residential with full accommodations year-round, surpassing pre-Covid numbers. Pompei invested €600,000 in nighttime lighting for the archaeological site. The city's security system effectively handles up to 100,000 people during special events.

🏨 Blackstone Group, after acquiring Hotel Investment Partners (HIP) in 2017 from Banco Sabadell, is set to sell its 65% stake, valued at €6.5 billion. Sale options include a private equity transfer or an IPO by year-end. Singapore's sovereign fund GIC, which invested in October 2023, holds the remaining 35%. HIP, based in Barcelona, owns 73 hotels with over 22,000 rooms across Spain, Italy, Greece, and Portugal. Blackstone has invested nearly €750 million in hotel renovations over eight years.

🍷 Edoardo Freddi International, Italy's leading wine export management company, achieved a turnover of over 112 million euros and sold 30 million bottles in 2024, marking an 8.2% growth. Founded in 2012 by Edoardo Freddi, the firm has partnered with Batasiolo, a historic Langhe winery. The company operates in over 110 markets, with significant presence in the USA, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Singapore, Japan, and Vietnam.

☕ Cimbali Group showcased its coffee machines at the 46th SIGEP in Rimini, Italy, from January 18 to 22. Featured machines include the multitasking E71E, the elegant Faema President GTI, the 94.4% recyclable M40 with -55% energy saving, the M200 with -42% energy saving and High Quality Milk system, the quick service-friendly S30 Turbo Milk, the compact S-Lite for 80 cups/day, and the high-volume S20 capable of 200 cups/day. Casadio introduced the Nettuno with unique design and Enea grinder, while Slayer presented the dream barista machine, the Steam LP, with customizable options. The Cimbali Group employs over 800 people across four factories, including its Seattle facility, and runs MUMAC, the coffee machine museum and academy.