Successful divestment of the destination management business

Successful divestment of the destination management business

Thien Minh Travel Joint Stock Company (“TMG” or “the Group”) announces that it has entered into an agreement with Flight Centre Travel Group Limited (“FLT”) for the sale of the remaining 41.5% of the outstanding shares of Buffalo Tours (Singapore) Pte. Ltd, the holding company of the nineteen destination management and travel related companies in Asia and Buffalo Tours Hongkong Limited which together comprise the majority of the destination management business activities of the Group (together referred to as “the Buffalo Tours Group”).

Flight Centre Travel Group is one of the world’s largest travel agency groups, it has company-owned operations in 23 countries and a corporate travel management network that spans more than 90 countries. It employs more than 19,000 people globally and has a total of 2800 businesses.

The total consideration for the transaction is based on an enterprise value of US$48 million. For the year ending 31 December 2018, Buffalo Tours Group is expected to generate consolidated revenues of about US$100 million and Earnings Before Interest Tax and Depreciation of US$5.6 million. The transaction has been completed on 4 July 2018. By upbringing Buffalo Tours Group to become one of the best Asia-based destination management companies, the Group has created a unique opportunity for Buffalo Tours Group to become an important component of a future world-wide DMC network.

The transaction is part of the Group’s portfolio transformation strategy whereby focus will be placed upon competitive and fast growing assets with considerable organic growth opportunities that are expected to benefit from both medium and long term growth trends. As Vietnam and Asia continues to be the highlight of the world’s economy and tourism, the Group is expecting to play an important role in the future.

Tran Trong Kien, Chief Executive of TMG, said: “Our redesigned core portfolio will create a highly attractive, competitive and well-balanced business, with the leverage of scale, technical expertise and customer-centric culture, which offer considerable upside potential over the long term.  We constantly engaged with global parties interested in several of our assets, but we will only complete those transactions which could bring values and opportunities for all. We have enjoyed working with Flight Centre as our JV partner and will hope to do more similar transactions with them in the future .“

“This is a period of considerable change in TMG’s long history of evolution and I appreciate the support of all our people and stakeholders in helping to deliver the sustainable value that we all demand and expect. In the mean time I am excited for the potential of the Buffalo Tours Group in many years to come.”
For further information, please contact:

Investors
Mrs. Tran Hang Thu
[email protected]
+84 28 3820 8822

Media
Mrs. Tran Bich Hue
[email protected]
+84 24 3926 3148

About Thien Minh Group

Founded in 1994 and headquartered in Vietnam, Thien Minh Group is one of the leading integrated travel, hospitality and aviation group based in Southeast Asia. The Group aspires to become an Asia’s leading customer-centric Travel Group, providing all-inclusive travel and hospitality services.

As a responsible travel business, we aspire:

• to ensure our customers’ journeys are exciting experiences that are remembered for a lifetime;
• to provide our employees with opportunities to progress in their personal journeys;
• to create a successful journey for our partners and investors with mutual benefits; and
• to create a multitude of sustainable development journeys for our local communities.