Thiruvananthapuram, India, April, 05, 2006: IBS Software Services, an IBS Group company, and a leading provider of software solutions to the travel, transportation and logistics industries, has announced its asset purchase agreement with Discovery Travel Systems, L.P. (DTS), based in Washington DC, USA. This acquisition is the second in recent times by IBS and is in line with its strategy for inorganic growth through mergers and acquisitions. This move also marks IBS’ entry into the leisure travel and tour industry.
DTS is a successful IT company providing 'business to business’ (B2B) travel technology systems to the cruise, tour, and vacation travel industry. Its software solutions address market needs in tour and vacation travel, cruise line on board passenger services and crew management systems as well as cruise line inventory packaging solutions. With customers located all over the world, and predominantly in North America, DTS will leverage IBS’ extensive resource pool, global presence and delivery capabilities to meet customer needs and further enhance their area of operations. DTS’ impressive client base include major cruise companies such as Cunard, Royal Caribbean, MSC and Star Cruise, and Brendan Vacations within the tour and vacation marketing operator industry.
This acquisition will help create a travel and cruise line business unit for IBS, and will position IBS as the leading provider of technology systems for the challenging business requirements of tour packagers, vacation travel marketers, and cruise lines. The agreement includes the acquisition of DTS facilities, resources and operational control of existing and future businesses.
According to V K Mathews, Chairman and Managing Director, IBS Group, “DTS’ business operations in the leisure travel domain will complement our business relationships with airlines, travel agencies, hotel chains, car rental agencies and augment our strengths in areas like airline reservations and check-in. This acquisition will enable us to diversify into other segments of the travel industry, thus expanding the scope of our operations. The high profile DTS clientele and the high potential of leisure travel and vacation industries worldwide, make it even more exciting for us to enter this industry segment."
"This sale will provide significant benefits for our existing and future clients," said John Broughan, President of Discovery Travel Systems. "Our 'personalized partnership’ approach with each client will now be enhanced by the talented managerial and development group at IBS. It is a win-win situation for our employees and customers."
As a result of this acquisition, DTS’ three core products have become part of the IBS portfolio of offerings. They are: TOUR PARTNER™, which addresses the vacation packaging needs of the travel industry including individual or group travel packages and escorted tours. CRUISE PARTNER™, a comprehensive web-based cruise reservation and inventory management system, which differentiates itself through its unique ability to accommodate both large and small users and SHIP PARTNER™, which is a property management system for the cruise industry.