MBT owners Mike and Mandy Dwyer will remain as active joint venture partners from 1 Oct, when the transaction officially takes place.
Goldman Travel Group is focused on growing its luxury leisure and cruise business through its Travelcall brand, together with its Goldman Travel corporate and groups business.
Its SmartFlyer Australia joint venture recently celebrated 10 years.
According to Mike Dwyer, “the stars have aligned” for Goldman and MBT, who share similar values and culture.
“It’s a big deal for us after 25 years – MBT has been our baby and we’ve grown it from ground zero,” he told Travel Daily. “It’s not easy to let go but the timing is right and we think Goldman really is the ideal partner for our business.
Potential acquisition was always on the cards for MBT, although COVID disrupted those plans and the business had to focus on rebuilding, noted Dwyer.
“But we were lucky – we had three interested parties approach us around the same time,” he said.
When it came to choosing a suitable partner, Dwyer said the most important factor was finding someone who had similar values. especially as several MBT team members have worked with the company for more than 20 years.
“For us, it wasn’t about making a sale and riding off into the sunset,” he said. “It was really important we had some strategy towards looking after our people and keeping the business going.”
News of the acquisition was well-received by the MBT team, thanks to Goldman’s high profile and now, the Dwyers are keen to see the two businesses learn from each other’s complementary strengths.
“We can certainly use some expertise in the corporate space, and we share a lot of commonalities, especially in the high end leisure market and we’re deeply involved in Virtuoso,”” explained Dwyer.
“Pooling our resources is one advantage, so is getting a bigger skillset and a broader pool of talent to draw on – there are a lot of upsides.”
