Villa specialist snapped up by rental giant
James Villa Holidays has been bought out by Hoseasons parent Wyndham Worldwide for around $77 million.
A specialist in the Mediterranean villa holiday market, James Villa Holidays was previously owned by private equity fund Vespa Capital.
A spokesman for Wyndham said all James staff are staying with the business and there are no redundancies planned at this stage.
He said Wyndham would keep the James name.
"This is a strong, well-respected and performing travel business and we have acquired the company to grow the brand, not reduce it," he said.
Wyndham said the deal will strengthens its rentals business in France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Malta.
The group claims it will also allow it to expand across further Mediterranean countries.
It already has Hoseasons Villas with Pools, specialising in Spain and Portugal, Bowhills, French Country Cottages, villas4you, and European villas through its Novasol brand.
“The acquisition of James Villa Holidays is consistent with our strategy to invest in fee-for-service businesses and represents another step forward in our strategic plan to grow our presence and leadership position within the global vacation rentals market,” said Stephen P. Holmes, chairman and CEO, Wyndham Worldwide.
“We continue to see the value of and invest in opportunistic acquisitions that support our growth and returns targets and thus optimise our capital deployment.”
James Holiday Villas represents 2,300 properties across the Mediterranean and Balearics.
By Bev Fearis
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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