Corporate travel firm bought by Spanish rival

ABIRMINGHAM corporate travel company which works with clients such as Five Guys, Red Bull and TalkTalk has been bought out by a Spanish rival.

Click Travel has been acquired in an undisclosed deal by Barcelonabased outfit Travel Perk.

The company was founded in 1999 by chief executive James McLean and his late brother Simon who died in 2018, and handles more than £300 million in business travel spend for over 2,000 clients.

All 150 Click Travel staff in Birmingham will transfer over to Travel Perk which said the acquisition was its third and largest to date.

Mr McLean said: “Click Travel and Travel Perk share the same mission to reduce the cost and complexity of business travel for everyone.

“Those shared objectives, combined with the natural cultural fit between our two companies, means we are incredibly excited to bring our teams together.”

Avi Meir, chief executive and cofounder of Travel Perk, added: “We’re really excited to welcome Click Travel’s fantastic and talented team to build long-term growth and significantly expand our on-theground team in the UK.

“Since March last year, our strategy has been to invest massively in our product offering and in our global reach, so that we were well-positioned for the recovery when it came. There is no doubt that the business travel market is on track for a full recovery after the disruption of the last year.

“The meetings that matter will always happen in person and we are already seeing plenty of green shoots in our key markets.”

Equity investor BGF has exited

Click Travel as a result of the buyout following its backing of the firm in 2018.

Gurinder Sunner, head of BGF in the Midlands, said: “Our Birmingham team backed Click Travel with a multi-million-pound investment to fast-track growth.

“During this time, the company has asserted its global leadership position as the biggest travel platform in the UK.

“We’re extremely proud to have supported the company at a period of rapid growth and wish the team all the best on the next exciting stage of their journey.”