Rockaway Capital Acquires Unister Travel Assets ab-in-den-urlaub.de and fluege.de

LEIPZIG, Germany, December 23, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

• Leading internet investor in Central and Eastern Europe acquires former Unister travel assets
• Further acquired assets: reisen.de, billigfluege.de, reisegeier.de, urlaubstours.de, hotelreservierung.de and TravelViva
• Objective is to create a pan-European leader in the online travel segment

Rockaway Capital SE ("Rockaway Capital") today announced that it has signed an agreement with the administrator Prof. Dr. Lucas F. Flöther in his capacity as insolvency administrator of Unister to acquire former Unister travel assets consisting of some of the best-known brands in the German travel market: ab-in-den-urlaub.de (AIDU), reisen.de, billigfluege.de, reisegeier.de, urlaubstours.de, hotelreservierung.de and TravelViva. These leading online travel platforms will seamlessly continue to offer all of their services to customers on a high quality level. Building on the new foundations that have been created in the last few months, Rockaway Capital will implement a new compliance and corporate governance structure at the acquired assets to support the new beginning and further growth. The parties involved have agreed not to disclose financial details of the transaction.

Rockaway Capital is the leading internet investor in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) focusing on e-commerce and internet companies with high growth potential. With the online travel agency (OTA) Invia, Rockaway Capital already operates a well-established brand and a leading player in the CEE travel market. The acquired assets strategically fit Rockaway Capital's ambitions to gain a foothold on the German market, to complement its portfolio and to expand its service offerings - for the benefit of customers who will have access to a wider range of high quality services.

"As Invia and the former Unister companies, especially AIDU, have the same business model, our focus will be on leveraging combined forces and expertise with the vision to create a pan-European OTA leader. Our proven technology and superior know-how will allow us to provide the best service to up to 140 million existing and potential customers in Germany and beyond", says Jaroslaw Czernek, Investment Partner at Rockaway Capital and Chairman at Invia.

Rockaway Capital is fully committed to the German travel market and will take over all of the about 520 remaining travel business employees. With a large talent pool and strong management team in place, Rockaway Capital is in an ideal position to take the travel platforms to the next level.

Insolvency administrator Prof. Dr. Lucas F. Flöther says: "Given its expertise in the travel sector, operational and financial strength, I consider Rockaway an ideal partner and I am confident that the new owner will unlock the acquired assets' potential."

The creditor committee has given their consent to the acquisition. The transaction is jointly financed by Rockaway Capital and CEFC, Rockaway Capital's passive strategic financial partner for investments in the travel sector. "The investment in the German online travel agency ab-in-den-urlaub.de and the online airline-ticket seller fluege.de is a great opportunity and fits with our travel-industry development strategy. Through these companies, we also want to use the potential presented by growth in the number of Chinese tourists visiting Europe. We also plan to use the synergies and opportunities that our investment will provide in the areas of the travel industry, air transport and the hotel industry," reinforces Marcela Hrdá, executive vice-president of CEFC Europe.

The former Unister travel assets will be acquired by the holding company Rockaway Capital Travel. The closing of the transaction is scheduled for the beginning of 2017.

About Rockaway Capital 

Founded by aspiring entrepreneur Jakub Havrlant in 2013, Rockaway Capital is a true Central and Eastern European success story. Rockaway Capital's focus is on building, investing in and buying promising internet companies with high growth potential. Over the last three years, Rockaway Capital has invested more than USD 400 million into more than 20 portfolio companies. In the travel sector, Rockaway Capital pursues investments with its strategic financial partner CEFC, a leading and reputable Chinese private investment group. Being headquartered in Prague and having further offices in San Francisco and São Paulo, Rockaway Capital has a core team of 25 people with a strong network of experts and suppliers. For more information visit http://www.rockawaycapital.com

About Invia  

Invia is the largest online travel agency (OTA) in the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary. The company specializes in selling package travel, flight tickets and accommodation from almost all suppliers on the respective markets. In addition to its online business, Invia has around 200 points of sale. Since its foundation in 2002, the company has grown to 253 million EUR total transaction value (TTV) and serves more than 500,000 customers per year. Invia employs a total of more than 700 employees. Jointly with CEFC, Rockaway acquired Invia in the first half of 2016 and has made the company grow at 48% (YOY) over the last quarter.

About CEFC 

CEFC China Energy Company Limited is the largest private company in Shanghai, and the seventh largest private company in China. In the Fortune Global 500's leader board of the largest companies in 2016, CEFC took the 229th position, employing more than 30,000 people worldwide. Apart from the company's priority business finance and energy, it also operates in many other areas. CEFC decided to expand into Europe and has already realized numerous investments focusing on tourism, the airline industry and e-commerce.

Press contact for Rockaway Capital  

Torben Gosau
CNC - Communications and Network Consulting AG
M: +49-160-969-435-17
E:rockaway@cnc-communications.com

Press contact UNISTER insolvency administration 

Christoph Möller
möller pr
M: +49-179-100-90-80
E:cm@moeller-pr.de