The Thelma Shlomo Group acquires the control (51%) in Arbitrip from Teddy Sagi and a group of investors. The deal is expected to gradually increase Thelma’s holdings in the company through transactions with the other shareholders up to a control of 75% of the company. In 2018, Sagi invested approximately 4 million dollars in exchange for half of the shares in the company. Thelma Shlomo transfers 25% of Sagi’s shares and about 26% of the other investors’ shares. After the first phase, Thelma Shlomo will own 51% of the company. In the second phase, Thelma Shlomo will purchase the rest of the shares remaining in Sagi’s hands. At the end of the process, which will take about two years, Arbitrip’s value is expected to reach 40 million dollars.
Arbitrip has developed a technology for booking hotel rooms for business trips through an algorithm that allows for maximizing the booking according to the needs of the passengers when the system locates optional rooms according to the company’s requirements (location and travel destination), while guaranteeing to find an affordable price through accessibility to wholesale prices by scanning room supply from different suppliers. The company also provides the possibility to track expenses, determine travel policies, manage payments and invoices at an organizational standard.
The controlling owners of Thelma-Shlomo are Erez Shmol, the Shlomo Group, the Naftali family (Big owners) and Mor Beit Investments. Thelma is dominant in the business sector and intends to integrate Arbitrip in the field of business travel for its clients.
The founders of Arbitrip who also own shares in the company are Benny Yunovitch (CEO) and Oral Yosef (Chief Technology VP), graduates of a technology unit of the Intelligence Corps whom they met during their military service. Arbitrip has raised 4.5 million dollars since its establishment in 2015 – the majority of the money was invested by Teddy Sagi, as mentioned. Arbitrip employs 15 people and provides its services to approximately 850 business customers worldwide. After the transaction is completed, Arbitrip will continue to operate as an independent brand.
According to Shmol, the negotiations conducted with Teddy Sagi began since he invested in the company in 2018, “Throughout the years we realized that the move is a win-win for both parties.” Thelma invests in the field of travel tech and she owns shares of prominent players such as Alice (flight booking engine ), Wineryx (a system for predicting flight ticket prices), Hotels Maze (which offers optimization when booking accommodation rooms) and more. In April of this year, Thelma completed the purchase of the British company Norad Travel Group, which specializes in business tourism management. These days, the company is in advanced negotiations to purchase a company in the USA “B.
The buyers in the transaction were represented by attorney Zohar Lis from the Fisher-Bacher office, and the sellers were represented by attorney Simcha Kobari from the Mitar office, and attorney Zohar Ozdin from the Haddad, Roth, Shanhar & Co. office.