When the owner of a boutique travel agency wanted to sell her business, the pandemic didn’t make it an easy task. Fortunately, Transworld Business Advisors were by her side to guide the sale.

When the owner of a boutique travel agency first started her company, it was a real labour of love to provide unique travel experiences to clients, of the type she personally enjoyed. But toward the end of 2019, she realised she had taken the business as far as she could, and it was time to sell to someone who could invest more time into growing the brand into something truly marketable.

Time wasn’t something she had, in abundance, so selling the business, on top of running it, and working a full time job, was beyond her capabilities. So, she made enquiries and was referred to Henry Ziff, from Transworld Business Advisors of London. “The vendor approached us, having spoken to her financial advisor who recommended she use our firm to help her sell the business. She knew she had a saleable company, and didn’t want to just let the business go or liquidate the assets,” Henry explains. “However, this was just before the outbreak of the pandemic, in December 2019, when what should have been an easier sale suddenly became significantly more complex.”

As Henry and his team were packaging up details of the business, and sourcing interested investors in this type of business, news broke about travel restrictions. “This obviously hit the industry this business sat in, incredibly hard. No one was looking to travel, and so investors weren’t as interested as they had been before the news broke.”

Undeterred, Henry knew the situation would improve at some point, and he knew the right buyer would also recognise this, so would have the foresight to invest in the business as an opportunity for when travel restrictions lifted. “We found someone who had a passion for travel and the travel industry, but also had a marketing background, so he understood what the future for this type of company could look like and how it could scale once the restrictions of the pandemic began to lift. He was looking for an agency type of opportunity, and although we’d presented him a few options we had on our books, he particularly loved this boutique travel company, and saw its value in the future.”

Although the deal had been hindered, somewhat, by the pandemic, the vendor and investor agreed a sale, and the deal was completed early in 2021. The vendor fully appreciating the support of Transworld by her side, during what has been the biggest challenge to the travel industry, to date.

To discover more about the support of Transworld Business Advisors for the sale of your business, please call Henry on: 0203 911 1059 or email hziff@tworlduk.com