Undisclosed Leading Asian Tour Operator

Situation

The Company was a family owned travel tour operator based in the U.S. that specialized in arranging individual and group tours throughout Southeast Asia with a particular emphasis on mainland China. The economic downturn in 2008 adversely affected the entire travel/tourism industry and hit the Company’s business particularly hard. Furthermore, because of the nature of the Company’s operations and vendor terms, the Company was faced with tightened liquidity and significant liabilities as new customer deposits fell sharply. Moreover, the owners had personally guaranteed most of these liabilities and would soon have to fund such payments to continue operations.

Engagement

As bankruptcy was not an attractive option for this particular venture, the Company turned to Gordian Group to help craft a solution that would keep the business intact as well as mitigate the risks of the owning family’s potential personal liability. Gordian Group was able to engineer a sale outside of bankruptcy to a rival travel operator that kept the business intact, ensured a seamless operational transition and removed a great source of uncertainty for the owners.

Outcome

In the end, the transaction benefited the buyer (who considered the Company an attractive addition to its existing portfolio of businesses), the Company’s customers (as there were no disruptions to actual operations during the sale process), the Company’s vendors (who were paid in full) and most of all, the Company’s owners.