Interview with Jaime Sastre on Phocuswright Europe 2024

At the recent Phocuswright Europe 2024 event, Jaime Sastre, CEO of Juniper Group, participated in an interview hosted by Phocuswire, where they discussed the growing trend of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity in the travel technology space.

The rise of mergers and acquisitions in travel technology

During the interview, Jaime shared his perspective on the current trend of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the industry. Juniper Group, part of Vela Software, itself one of Constellation Software‘s six operating divisions, has made numerous recent acquisitions, including Lleego and Vervotech. In April 2023, Vela also acquired travel technology company Peakwork.

Jaime noted that these acquisitions are critical to Juniper Group’s growth and development.

“We will acquire strategic assets that have potential synergies with other companies we own. But we make acquisitions not only because of the synergies, but because we are capital allocators; we have a buy-and-hold philosophy,” Jaime explained.

Independent management for success

A distinctive aspect of Constellation Software’s acquisitions is that each acquired company maintains its own CEO. Jaime explained that Constellation’s belief is that software companies are much better run by independent CEOs who are not integrated into a large organisation.

During the interview, Sastre was joined by Rita Lei, partner at MCF Corporate Finance, who gave an insight into the different consolidators in the market today. Lei mentioned companies such as Mews, Lighthouse (formerly OTA Insight) and Guesty, and highlighted how they vary in their approach, from those focused on revenue and profit growth to others more focused on synergies and cross-selling.

An optimistic outlook for the future

Lei also noted that the gap between the buy side and sell side in terms of valuation is narrowing, a different situation than in 2021 and 2022. Jaime added that for Juniper Group there is no right or wrong time to make acquisitions.

“We have been doing acquisitions since 1996, and we do as many as we can, as long as we can buy companies we like. We have to like the company, the customers and the people who run it,” concluded Jaime.

The full interview provides a deeper insight into how travel technology companies are evolving post-pandemic, the realignment in terms of valuations and future strategies in the sector.

Watch the full video interview with Jaime Sastre at Phocuswright Europe 2024 for more information on current trends in travel technology.