Avion Group Acquisition of French Tour Operator Vacances Heliades

Avion Group’s subsidiary, XL Leisure Group, is pleased to announce that it has reached agreement to acquire 100% of the issued share capital of Vacances Heliades (‘Heliades’), a French tour operator. On completion of the acquisition, XL Leisure Group Star will be France’s fifth largest tour operator. Heliades specialises in travel to Greece and Cyprus.

Avion Group’s subsidiary, XL Leisure Group, is pleased to announce that it has reached agreement to acquire 100% of the issued share capital of Vacances Heliades (‘Heliades’), a French tour operator. On completion of the acquisition, XL Leisure Group Star will be France’s fifth largest tour operator. Heliades specialises in travel to Greece and Cyprus.

Heliades, which was established in January 1980, reported turnover for the financial year 2005 of Euros 80 million and profit before tax of Euros 3.3 million. The company is being purchased for 7.7 million Euros through a mixture of equity and debt. Heliades will be consolidated into the financial statements of Avion Group with effect from 1 January 2007.

Heliades carried 120,000 passengers in 2005 and on completion of the acquisition, Star Airlines is expected to carry over one million passengers on an annual basis to over thirty destinations.

Heliades’s destination routes are: Athens, Heraklion, Mykonos, Santorin, Rhodes and Corfu in Greece and Paphos and Larnaca in Cyprus. Heliades operates flights to Greece and Cyprus from main airports all over France. Among departure airports are: Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux and Toulouse with some recently added new destinations such as Tunis, Morocco and Egypt.

The acquisition will create synergies for XL Leisure Group, as the British tour operator Kosmar, which is a part of XL Leisure Group, travels partly to the same destinations as Heliades.

Heliades will strengthen the current operation of Star Airlines, which was purchased by Avion Group in February 2006 to establish a Charter & Leisure operation outside the UK. Additionally, Avion Group announced in June the acquisition of the French internet-based business-to-business tour operator Crystal To. On completion of the Heliades acquisition, Avion Group is expected to carry approximately seven million passengers on an annual basis.

Heliades is headquartered in Aix en Provence, close to Marseille and its offices are located in Paris, Lyon and Toulouse in France and in Athens in Greece and Heraklion in Crete.

Commenting on the acquisition, Magnus Stephensen, deputy CEO of XL Leisure Group, said:

“Avion Group currently runs a very successful business to business tour operator in the UK, as a part of Excel Airways Group. The acquisition of Heliades as a tour operator perfectly complements our airline, Star Airlines, purchased in February, and allows us to build on our knowledge and experience within the industry to replicate that success in France.

“Expansion of our existing operations in France provides Avion with access to a much larger market share and provides many potential opportunities for the future of the Group.”

Contact Information

Magnus Stephensen

VP Business Development

Avion Group

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