Northstar acquires travAlliance, two U.K. companies

Northstar Travel Group, parent company of Travel Weekly, has acquired travAlliancemedia, the owner of well-known brands including TravelPulse.com, TravelPulse Canada, Agent at Home, Travel Agent Academy, Agent Studio and a portfolio of custom-content solutions, marketing services, and software and marketing tools for the retail travel community.

Northstar also bought Buying Business Travel, which faces the corporate travel market, from London-based Panacea Media, as well as CAT Media, which serves the meetings and incentives industries from its headquarters in East Grinstead, England.

"The addition of travAlliancemedia's well-known brands serving the retail, home-based and independent travel advisor market complement Northstar's leadership brands, including Travel Weekly and TravelAge West, serving the retail travel industry," said Thomas Kemp, Chairman & CEO of Northstar Travel Group.

"The acquisition provides Northstar with an unparalleled portfolio of marketing services, online media, events and marketing tools serving the travel advisor community and connecting travel suppliers and destinations to this audience," Kemp said.

Mark Murphy, the founder and CEO of travAlliancemedia, will become an advisor to the Northstar and travAlliancemedia combination. "We know the Northstar team and brands very well and believe this is a great combination of talent, complementary brands, and online services to better serve the travel advisor market," Murphy said.

The travAlliancemedia portfolio includes:

TravelPulse.com: a leading online brand serving the travel advisor community in the U.S. with approximately 1 million monthly visitors. TravelPulse connects destinations, travel suppliers and travel advisors with real time information and marketing services.

TravelPulse Canada, TravelPulse Quebec, and TravelPulse Mexico: The leading online information sites serving the Canadian and Mexican travel advisory communities.

Agent at Home: The leading brand serving the home-based and independent travel advisor community with information, marketing services and events.

Travel Agent Academy: The leading online education platform providing travel advisors with certification for travel destinations and suppliers.

Agent Studio: A business that gives travel advisors the ability to build custom websites that also feature an integrated marketing platform. This enables travel advisors to connect and market their services to clients and prospects with offers, online information and news about the latest happenings in travel.

"The travAlliancemedia portfolio is a perfect strategic fit with Northstar's core information and marketing services brands serving the retail travel industry," said Bob Sullivan, president of Northstar's Travel Group. "We are very excited about the growth opportunities in Canada, and we will work with [president and editor in chief of TravelPulse Canada] John Kirk, to determine what Northstar brands and products we may introduce in Canada."

Company buys U.K. corporate travel, meetings brands

The deal to acquire Buying Business Travel,a business-to-business brand in the U.K. serving the corporate travel industry, was also concluded on Monday. Its portfolio includes The Business Travel Awards, which recognizes the leadership of corporate travel suppliers; The BBT Business Travel Forums; BBT Editor's Lunches; and Buying Business Travel magazine.

Louis Magliaro, senior vice president and group publisher of Northstar's BTN Group, said Buying Business Travel "is an excellent strategic fit with Northstar's Business Travel News, Travel Procurement and The Beat brands along with the recently acquired Business Travel Show in London."

Early this morning, Northstar closed on the purchase of CAT Media, a global multi-platform business-to-business information, marketing services and events business for the U.K. meetings and incentive industry.

Among its brands are Meetings & Incentive Travel magazine, Association Meetings International magazine, Meetpie.com (an online membership portal for meetings professionals), M&IT Challenges, M&IT Awards, VenueSource.com, and Convention-Source.com.