Szallas Group acquires Litorarul Romanesc
2024 has brought a huge success to the operation of Szallas Group: we have acquired an impressive 80% stake in Creative Eye SRL, the Romanian company behind the travel platform Litoralulromanesc.ro, that offers several hundred accommodations located along the Black Sea coastline in Romania and had a 45 million euros total value of bookings in 2023, generating 3 million euros of EBITDA during this period.
With this strategic move, Travelminit.ro will be able to widen its inventory to meet the needs of those who are interested in leisure trips as well as vacation getaways to Romanian seaside resorts: almost the entire range of hotels along the Romanian coast will be available to the guests of Szallas Group from the summer of 2025.
The integration not only solidifies our position in the market but also underscores our commitment to expanding our footprint in Central and Eastern Europe. With this union, we’re not just merging businesses; we’re blending expertise, resources, and passion to create something truly extraordinary.
“The acquisition of Litoralulromanesc.ro is a milestone in our development in this country. It is a combination of two businesses that operate in tourism but have different yet complementary characteristics. Travelminit focuses on leisure tourism getaways to smaller inland accommodations, while Litoralul Romanesc is the country’s leader in vacation getaways to Romanian seaside resorts. Together, we will be able to offer our customers a comprehensive travel offer.” – says Ferenc Rigó, CEO of Szallas Group. With this 16.8 million euros worth of deal, Szallas Group will be able to cover 330 hotels out of the 380 on the Romanian seaside.
The deal have been greatly supported by the acquisition team of Wirtualna Polska Holding, owner of Szallas Group. Aleksander Kusz, VP E-commerce at WP also added: “I am very pleased that Szallas Group’s first acquisition, following its takeover by WP Group, is in Romania, a country where we believe the growth of travel services will be the fastest. We believe that, like the Romanian economy as a whole, the travel market will also soon record very dynamic growth, catching up with comparable countries.”
“Our tech expertise, business model and potential proved to be very successful and have been observed on the European market by Szallas Group, backed by Wirtualna Polska Holding. They are committed to invest in Creative Eye to further develop the company and, together with Travelminit, to attain a market leader position in Romania. Following this investment, Litoralulromanesc.ro will be able to provide new solutions to serve customers and grow exponentially”, adds Ionut Nedea, founder and CEO of Creative Eye. ”We are pursuing a new level of development of Litoralulromanesc.ro, enhancing our commitment to customers and having a bold perspective on the future, both on the local market and in the region”.
In cooperation with the team of 50 passionate experts at Litoralul Romanesc, we will instantly start to prepare for 2025 summer, which will be our very first joint great seaside sales season.
The transaction value of the 80% stake in Creative Eye SRL is EUR 16.8 million adjusted for net cash as at the closing date. As part of the deal, Szallas Group also agreed to acquire the remaining 20% stake in 2025, after the approval of the 2024 financial statements. The acquisition value of the 20% stake will be determined based on the mechanism established in the purchase agreement.
From left to right: Ferenc Rigó (Szallas Group CEO), Ionut Nedea (founder and CEO of Creative Eye SRL), Adam Rogaliński (VP Corporate Development, Wirtualna Polska Holding), Jakub Moczulski (Investment Manager, Wirtualna Polska Holding)
From left to right: Ionut Nedea (founder and CEO of Creative Eye SRL), Ferenc Rigó (Szallas Group CEO)