Orbis Travel Acquired by Enterprise Investors

In keeping with its vision for a consolidated tourism industry in Central Europe, Warsaw-based Enterprise Investors has inked a deal to acquire Poland's Orbis Travel. Once the acquisition is complete, Enterprise will own just over 95% of Orbis and plans to continue operating under the well-known and trusted Orbis brand name.

The deal must still be approved by the Polish government. Enterprise Investors' Polish Enterprise Fund VI recently made another major tourism acquisition, purchasing almost 71% of Baltic tourism provider Novaturas for €40 million.

Orbis Travel (www.orbistravel.pl)
Warsaw-based Orbis Travel is one of Poland's major tourism industry players active in tour operating, hotels, car rental, coach transportation, and travel agency services.

As the largest hotel operator in the central European nation, Orbis manages more than 65 hotels with 12,000 rooms under brand names like Etap, Holiday Inn, Ibis, Mercure, Novotel, and Sofitel. Orbis Travel maintains 41 travel agencies of its own while partnering with 1,500 agencies which sell it's services in various Polish cities.

The company was founded in 1920 as a small private tour operator; today it remains as one of the ten oldest tour operators in the world.

Enterprise Investors (www.ei.com.pl)
Enterprise Investors was established in 1990 with its initial USD 240 million Polish-American Enterprise Fund. It is the oldest firm of its kind Poland, managing private equity and venture capital funds in Poland and Central and Eastern Europe. Seven funds have been created in the last eighteen years raising and investing a combine total in excess of €1.7 billion. With more than 90 investments fully exited, the firm has produced profits of more than €1.3 billion.