Orizonia Corporation
The Orizonia Group (Orizonia Corporaciόn in Spanish) was a Spanish tour operator which was founded in 2006. The company was based on the Spanish island of Mallorca, in the Mediterranean Sea. It was the third largest tour operator in Spain.[1]
Background
The Orizonia Group was born out of Grupo Iberostar, a Spanish tourism group split into three divisions: Iberostar Hotels and Resorts; Grupo Receptor; and Grupo Emisor. Iberostar Hotels and Resorts owned the accommodation service for the company while Grupo Receptor owned travel agencies and Grupo Emisor owned tour operators, a cruise line, retail travel agencies and airlines.[2]
In 2006 the owner of Grupo Iberostar, Miguel Fluxá, decided to sell Grupo Receptor and Grupo Emisor while keeping Iberostar Hotels. The sale price was over 800 million Euros.[2]
In March 2006, Miguel Fluxá had 12 offers for Grupo Receptor and Emisor and on July 26 a deal was confirmed. The Carlyle Group from the United Kingdom took 55%, Vista Capital from Spain bought 36% while ICG Equity Fund purchased 5% and ten managers of the company acquired the remaining 4%.[2]
In their first full year of trading (2007), Orizonia reported a turnover of 2.676 billion Euros which was an increase of 11.4% over 2006 (in which they turned over 2.402 billion Euros).[2]
On 15 February 2013 Orizonia applied for "Pre-concurso de acreedores", a type of bankruptcy to protect itself from creditors. On 18 February it communicated to its workers that it was ceasing operations.[3] With this type of ¨bankruptcy¨ more than 5000 workers were fired without paying settlements and salaries and more than 900 million euros in debts to the suppliers.
Companies
The Orizonia Group took ownership of several travel agencies; tour operator Iberojet; retail travel agencies Viajes Iberia and Quo Viajes; two airlines called Orbest and Orbest Orizonia Airlines, the first one based in Portugal; among others. The company was a major stakeholder in Ibero Cruises, which owned in conjunction with Carnival Corporation & plc, and which replaced its own cruise line Iberojet Cruceros in 2007.[2]
References
- ↑ "Orizonia Corporation Information". The Carlyle Group. Retrieved 25 August 2010.
- 1 2 3 4 5 “Iberworld - The First Eleven Years” – Airliner World, March 2009
- ↑ El Mundo article February 2013, Retrieved 18 February 2013