East Peak Advisors, an international strategic investment banking and advisory firm specializing in the internet, security, storage & networking, visual computing and wireless sectors in the U.S. and Asia, announced today that it has successfully assisted in the sale of OTravel.com, Inc., a subsidiary of Overstock.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: OSTK), to Castles Travel, Inc., an affiliate of Kinderhook Industries, LLC, for $17.0 million, including $11.0 million in cash.
East Peak Advisors assisted OTravel, a Park City, Utah-based on-line travel company specializing in customized lodging and vacation packages at ski resorts, in identifying potential buyers that ultimately led to the acquisition of the company by Castles Travel, Inc. Recognizing the opportunity in luxury leisure travel and the growing demand for accommodations at vacation rental properties, Castles Travel, Inc. acquired OTravel in part due to the company’s success in new customer acquisition, the ability to generate impressive repeat business, as well as opportunities to scale the business in resort, ski and warm weather travel destinations.
East Peak Advisors’ extensive expertise in online commerce, consumer services, private equity financing and the exclusive sales process, combined with their strong relationships with key executives allowed the firm to attract interested decision makers and close the deal in less than four months.
“A core East Peak belief is that the right fit and the right timing wins the day. In this instance, while our client had opportunities to pursue a sale to a traditional online agency, we were able to conclude a successful transaction with a dynamic management team and financial partners that will bring significant additional value to the business,” commented Kurtis Fechtmeyer, Managing Director at East Peak Advisors.
Other recent investment banking transactions closed by the East Peak Advisors team of experts include:
- Sale of Aligo, a provider of client and server-based software solutions for scheduling and locating employees utilizing integrated Global Positioning System (GPS) functionality to Corrigo, a provider of on-demand service management solutions.
- Sale of MÄK Technologies, Inc., a developer of software simulation tools used by the military and defense industry, to Singapore Technologies Engineering, Ltd. (SGX: ST Engg)
- Advised Wmode in the Acquisition of ProvisionX, a mobile content delivery platform from Glu (Nasdaq: GLUU), a global publisher of mobile games software.
About Overstock.com
Overstock.com, Inc. is an online "closeout" retailer offering discount, brand-name merchandise for sale over the Internet. The company offers its customers an opportunity to shop for bargains conveniently, while offering its suppliers an alternative inventory liquidation distribution channel. Overstock.com, headquartered in Salt Lake City, is a publicly traded company listed on the NASDAQ Global Market and can be found online at http://www.overstock.com.
About Kinderhook
Kinderhook Industries, LLC ("Kinderhook") is a private equity firm with $470.0 million under management. Kinderhook partners with highly talented management teams to pursue private equity investments in non-core divisions of public companies, management buyouts of entrepreneurial-owned businesses and troubled situations and existing small capitalization companies lacking institutional support. Kinderhook's principals have completed in excess of fifty transactions, investing over $1.0 billion throughout their investment careers. Representative investments include companies in the health care services, basic manufacturing and business services industries. More information regarding Kinderhook can be found at http://www.kinderhookindustries.com.
About Castles Travel
In April of 2007, Castles Media and its financial partner Kinderhook Industries formed Castles Travel, Inc. to acquire Mountain Reservations, Inc., formerly known as OTravel.com, Inc., a leading marketer of vacation rental units and vacation packages to North America’s leading ski resorts.
Headquartered in Park City, UT, Mountain Reservations operates over 80 web sites that provide the consumer with the greatest selection of vacation properties available for short and long term rental. The Company’s sites also serve as feature rich, destination specific information guides to allow the consumer to plan their entire vacation, including the ability to directly book transportation, lift tickets, equipment rentals and even plan dining options. Unlike other classified listing sites that just provide a listing and an email address that a consumer must use to request more information, Mountain Reservations provides the consumer a spectrum of full-service options from complete online bookings and reservations to trip planning and advisory help from specialist agents with experience and training in the specific destination resorts. Since its formation in 2001, the Company has booked luxury vacation rental packages for more than 60,000 satisfied consumers.
About East Peak Advisors
East Peak Advisors delivers outstanding value to small to mid-cap clients in the Internet, Security, Storage & Networking, Visual Computing and Wireless sectors who are seeking trusted advisors regarding major financial transactions. The firm’s international clients benefit from deep sector experience, robust industry contacts and global investor network relationships, hundreds of combined years of transaction and tactical expertise, and extensive experience in advising cross-border deals between the U.S., China and India. Visit http://www.eastpeakadvisors.com for additional information about the firm.