Gray Dawes Enters U.S. with Express Travel Acquisition

U.K. travel management company Gray Dawes Group has acquired Florida-based Express Travel, a move that “closes the circle” on the TMC’s follow-the-sun service strategy, according to Gray Dawes Group CEO Suzanne Horner.

The acquisition, which closed on Friday, is Gray Dawes’ 13th to date and brings Gray Dawes’ employee count to about 300 and annual gross revenue to more than £350 million, the TMC reported. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Earlier this month, Gray Dawes launched its North American operations, including appointing Michel Botbol as president of Gray Dawes USA and Carolann Martini as chief customer officer, both based in New York. With the acquisition of Express Travel, Gray Dawes will be able to offer “a seamless personal service” with “a shared technology platform” for clients around the clock globally, according to Horner.

“Our clients increasingly want global solutions, even the smaller ones,” she said in a statement. “We’ve been very successful picking up businesses in the U.K. and integrating them. Now, we’re doing that overseas, earlier this year in Australia and now in America.”

Express Travel, incorporated in 1989, serves both corporate and leisure clients and is among the largest Hispanic-owned companies in the United States, according to the company. Express Travel managing partners Olga Ramudo and Cristina Jacomino will stay with the company following the acquisition, becoming Gray Dawes’ SVP for Florida and Latin America and director of luxury travel, respectively.