Cendant Corporation today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Novasol AS, the leader in the Northern European vacation home rental sector.
Novasol specializes in the marketing of privately owned holiday properties for rent, under the Novasol and Dansommer brand names, principally across Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany and Eastern Europe.
The transaction will be CendantÂ's third vacation rental sector acquisition since the acquisitions of UK based Holiday Cottages Group (HCG) and Italy based Cuendet Cie S.p.A. (Cuendet) in 2001. The transaction is expected to be modestly accretive to CendantÂ's earnings per share.
While the prior acquisition of Cuendet extended CendantÂ's geographic range of properties available under contract to Southern Europe, the acquisition of Novasol will add a substantial portfolio of more than 17,000 cottages in Northern Europe. Cendant’s total European contract portfolio now consists of more than 32,000 villas and cottages and positions Cendant as the leader in the sector.
'We are pleased to enter the Northern European market and continue to expand our vacation rental industry presence by adding Novasol and Dansommer to our other quality European brands, said Group Managing Director of Cendant EMEA, Scott Forbes.
'As a major provider of travel related services and the largest vacation home rental company in Europe, Cendant is uniquely positioned to provide a full range of product and services to Novasol and Dansommer’s more than 11,000 travel agent partners.'
(source: Cendant)
