The man who bought Tiriac's travel agency secures stake in investment fund

In less than three years, Florin Tancu, a 37 year-old engineer, sealed two major deals on the travel agencies market: in his first deal, he bought Tiriac Travel, a part of the group held by businessman Ion Tiriac, and in his second deal, he sold the majority stake in the agency founded by him, Alto Tours to a Danish investment fund, securing in return a minority stake in it. One stage in the expansion of ING Development, which operates on the market under the Alto Tours brand, was the takeover of Tiriac Travel agency, in the red in 2005, but which boasted an extensive client portfolio. "At the time, we considered it a good investment, able to provide us with significant growth opportunities on the market (...)," he said. Last year, Alto Tours attracted a Danish investment fund into its structure, Weco Travel, which initially took over 25% in the company, and another 50%, in a second stage, according to Tancu. "It was a complex deal, a share exchange occurred, under which I secured a minority stake, of under 5% in the investment fund (...)," he said.