CDS Groupe acquires the “Travel” business unit of Rydoo in order to strengthen its activity in the professional mobility market

M&A operations continue in Business Travel, confirming the rapid recovery of the sector: after the takeover of Comtravo by Tripactions and of Click Travel by Travelperk, it is CDS Group’s turn. The French business hotel marketplace took over the “Travel” activity of Rydoo, formerly Sodexo Travel, held since September 2021 by Marlin Equity.

“The acquisition of Rydoo Travel by CDS Group is perfectly in line with our strategy: Accelerating the growth of the company by strengthening its French leadership and technological consolidation. The complementarity in terms of positioning and customer portfolio will allow the new group to obtain 500 million euros in potential business volume, and to make it the de facto European leader in hotel reservation solutions in the field of business travel. We are excited to welcome the entire Rydoo Travel team. The group will now have 150 employees, including around 60 developers. Their in-depth knowledge of the IT services sector are all assets that will accelerate the growth of the CDS Groupe offer. The Travel department of CDS Group will be led by Pierre Mesnage. We will capitalise by investing in all the solutions developed by Rydoo Travel, both the Self Booking Tool and the Hotel Booking Tool, in order to enable strategic partner agencies to offer innovative solutions in the face of new international competition. We will thus be the only French independent and agnostic player with the capacity to provide all the essential tools to current TMCs to serve their Corporate and Public Sector customers” declares Ziad Minkara, co-founder and CEO of CDS Groupe.

Sébastien Marchon, CEO of Rydoo, explains “Since its creation in 2017, the growth of Rydoo Travel has been very rapid. Covid has obviously slowed down our development, but since September (2021), the recovery has been intense. Thanks to the many accounts gained over the past 2 years, our weekly turnover is now significantly higher than that of the pre-covid period (+92% last week). Despite this success (which validates our strategy centered on the user experience), we have decided to withdraw from Rydoo Travel and sell this activity to CDS. We are accelerating our development on the expense business line, which is already experiencing very strong growth and where the potential is even greater. We therefore want to devote 100% of our investments and energy to it. This will also allow Rydoo Travel to reach a “critical size” more quickly than by simple organic growth in an industry where volume is a game changer. The merger with CDS thus gives birth to a European leader in hotel reservation solutions. We are delighted.”

Since its creation in 2001, CDS Group has established itself in the business hotel market and continues to grow. Since the beginning of 2022, the company has recorded strong growth compared to pre-crisis volume, thus confirming the very good dynamics of the sector, particularly at the domestic level. This acquisition strengthens the execution of its strategy aimed at accelerating its growth and international development.

The new group will be present in France and Europe (more specifically in Italy, Spain, England, Benelux, Germany, Poland). For the group’s customers, this operation means that:

• CDS becomes a leading player in mobility on the French and European market
• A technological reinforcement with a consequent R&D service for a search for innovative solutions adapted to the needs of the market
• An extended team of experts at the service of market transformation

The expense management business unit, renamed Rydoo, remains under the control of its majority shareholder, Marlin Equity.

The two ‘pure’ players will focus on their respective areas of expertise, expense for Rydoo and hospitality for CDS Group. The latter will continue to serve customers using both the travel & expense part thanks to a strategic and commercial partnership.

Created in 2001 by its current CEO, Ziad Minkara, CDS Groupe is an HBT (Hotel Booking Tool) publisher of a platform dedicated to booking overnight stays for a clientele made up of corporates and travel agencies specialising in travel. ‘business. The company offers its customers an integrated solution allowing the reservation of hotels, with access to more than one and a half million accommodations throughout the world, and also offering s payment and invoicing solutions as well as personalised reporting. Intended to control hotel expenses by company by respecting the accommodation policy, the CDS solution helps to simplify the management of all flows related to hotel reservations.