CDS Groupe acquires Business unit " travel" de Rydoo

The publisher of a platform dedicated to booking overnight stays acquires the "Travel" business unit of Rydoo

M & A buy side 2022, May

E-travel & hospitality

"Since its creation in 2017, Rydoo Travel's growth has been very fast. The covid pandemic obviously slowed down our development but since September (2021), the recovery is intense. Thanks to the many accounts gained over the last 2 years, our weekly turnover is now significantly higher than the pre-covid period (+92% last week). Despite this success (which validates our strategy focused on the user experience), we have decided to divest from Rydoo Travel and sell this activity to CDS. This operation is the response to a dual desire: accelerating our development in the Expense business line, which is already experiencing very strong growth but has even greater potential. We therefore want to devote 100% of our investment and energy to this business. And secondly, to enable Rydoo Travel to reach "critical size" more quickly than by simple organic growth in an industry where volume is a "game changer". The merger with CDS creates a European leader in hotel reservation solutions. We are delighted with this."

Sebastien Marchon, CEO of Rydoo

The M&A operations continue in the Business Travel sector confirming its rapid recovery: it is the turn of CDS Groupe, the French business hotel marketplace, to take over the "Travel" business of Rydoo, formerly Sodexo Travel, which since September 2021 is owned by the Marlin Equity fund.

"The acquisition of Rydoo Travel by CDS Group is perfectly in line with our strategy to accelerate the company's growth by strengthening its French leadership and consolidating its technology. The complementary positioning and client portfolio will enable the new entity to reach a potential business volume of €500 million, making it the de facto European leader in hotel reservation solutions for business travel. We are excited to welcome the entire Rydoo Travel team.

The group will now have 150 employees including around 60 developers. Their in-depth knowledge of the IT services sector will help accelerate the growth of CDS Group's offering. The CDS Group's Travel department will be led by Pierre Mesnage. We will capitalise by investing in all the solutions developed by Rydoo Travel, both the Self Booking Tool and the Hotel Booking Tool, in order to enable our strategic partner agencies to offer innovative solutions when facing new international competition. We will be the only French independent player with the capacity to provide all the essential tools to today's TMCs to serve their Corporate and Public Sector clients" says Ziad Minkara, co-founder and CEO of CDS Group.

Founded in 2001, CDS Group has progressively established itself as a leader in the business hospitality market. The beginning of 2022 has seen strong growth compared to pre-crisis volumes, confirming a good commercial dynamic and a strong recovery in the sector.

This acquisition project will accelerate the deployment of this strategy aimed at strengthening its leadership in the French market and contributing to its international deployment.