Hull-based Good Travel Management has bought West Midlands agency Mercian Travel Centre for an undisclosed fee.
The acquisition is the first this year in the TMC sector, and experts are predicting more will follow throughout 2011.
The deal went through after Mercian’s 75-year-old founder, John Dowling, decided to call time on his career in the business travel industry.
Kevin Harrison, Good’s general manager, said his company was attracted by Mercian’s customer base and services.
“We are very pleased with this acquisition because Mercian Travel Centre is an extremely good business – it is a credit to John and his wife, Mary, who have run it very well for more than four decades,” he said.
“The firm has experience in a host of travel sectors similar to our own, so it is a good fit with our business. Its record in delivering trade missions was of particular interest because we have been increasingly specialising in this area and the acquisition strengthens our offer.”
Mercian specialised in high-end leisure travel, tour operations, corporate travel and trade missions, with a particular expertise in Libya and the Middle East.
The business will continue to trade as Mercian Travel and all staff being retained.
Anne Godfrey, chief executive of the Guild of Travel Management Companies, said recently that merger and acquisition activity in the TMC sector was inevitable, and that deals would be done later this year.
She has been backed up by Advantage Travel Centres' veteran bosses Ken McLeod and Norman Gage who have both predicted an imminent shake up in the corporate travel sector.
In December Capita Business Travel acquired hotel booking agency BSI, making it one of the largest independent TMCs in the UK.