In 2010, ICT entrepreneur Marc van Deursen founded Prijsvrij Vakanties. In a few years, his business grew into one of the largest players in the market. By taking over the bankrupt D-Reizen, his revenue increased from 200 to no less than 500 million euros. However, the deal did not go off without a hitch. "Really everything was misrepresented.
The takeover of the bankrupt D-Reizen is preceded by a long history. Travel giants Thomas Cook and D-Reizen made mutual agreements against Prijsvrij in 2016, which led to a court ruling and a million-dollar claim from Prijsvrij.
When corona hit the travel industry hard four years later, D-Reizen's parent company wanted to get rid of its loss-making subsidiary. Through a management buyout, the travel giant comes into the hands of two managers. They come clean, make an admission of guilt to Prijsvrij and settle for one million euros.
'I remember well that we signed that settlement on March 11, 2021,' Van Deursen looks back. 'Shortly after that, I was told that they couldn't pay the first installment. Then I knew that D-Reizen was not only loss-making, but also had a liquidity problem. I immediately thought: we have to start talking, this might be an opportunity.' Long story short: D-Reizen went bankrupt, and Van Deursen began talks with the trustee.
Auction
When the trustees called a public auction, there were hardly any serious buyers. 'The whole travel industry was on a drip at that time. To give an idea: D-Reizen's 2020 revenue had fallen from 500 to 3.5 million euros. A party like TUI had received 4.3 billion euros in state aid.'
Things were different for Prijsvrij. In 2014, Van Deursen had sold 50 percent of his shares to REWE, a billion-dollar German company. While REWE's travel arm lost millions at the time, the conglomerate's supermarkets and hardware stores were doing better than ever. Price Free had no shortage of financial resources.
All struggles aside, buying out of bankruptcy offers great advantages. All contracts expire and you can cherry pick.
The two brand-new owners of D-Reizen made an offer - backed by an investor - but could not guarantee employment. Price Free got the deal, paid the trustees €1 million for the estate and calculated that it needed €10 million in working capital to pull D-Reizen through.
Purchase agreement
Van Deursen had an important condition in the takeover. 'We said to the receivers: we want agreements with strategic parties to continue for another six months, such as renting the premises, hosting and collecting cash in the stores. A trustee can enforce that. Otherwise suppliers can say, "We've lost enough money, we won't do business with you anymore. Or on different terms." Then you still lose everything. In those six months you can then arrange an alternative in case that is necessary.'
A receiver has to act quickly. He commissions appraisals, opens up a data room and in a short time you have to make an offer. 'My advisers pointed out to me: include in your asset purchase agreement that what is in the data room corresponds to what is delivered. Immediately after the acquisition you do a kind of due diligence. The customer base turned out to be much smaller than presented. With the purchase agreement in hand, you can then discuss with the trustee how that will be compensated.'
Lockdown
By June 2021, the takeover was complete. Van Deursen was taking a big risk because Holland was still in the middle of corona and no one knew where it was going to end up. 'Two weeks later we went into lockdown again. As a new company, we did not qualify for corona support. It cost us 10 million euros.'
There were risks involved in a relaunch anyway. The name D-Reizen was badly publicized. Because of the bankruptcy itself, but later also because of the fuss about vouchers and the lawsuit about the brand name. The question is then: can you offset that with enough marketing money to regain consumer confidence? You often see this go wrong with clothing brands; they fall over after all.'
Lucrative
All struggles aside, a bankruptcy offers great advantages, Van Deursen knows. 'All contracts expire. You can do some cherry picking, both in terms of branches and employees. D-Reizen had 330 branches; we will continue with 120 to 150 of the best stores, all of which we will give a modern, fresh look. D-Reizen had a headquarters that was way too big. We made the organization flatter, but at the same time brought in good people in key positions. Nothing had been done on marketing for years; we restarted that.'
In the end, the takeover turned out to be extremely lucrative. In eight months, the purchase price and corona damages were recouped. In 2022 Van Deursen is aiming for revenue of 500 million, 300 million of which will come from D-Reizen. 'It sounds like a very advantageous deal because we are living in a relatively quiet time right now. But really, in the middle of the corona crisis nobody dared to do it.'
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