France-based hotel booking and payments platform CDS Groupe has created a new holding company as it looks to expand operations around Europe, including making more acquisitions.

The company has created S4BT ¨C Solutions for Business Travel to bring together its six current brands under a single banner to offer ¡°a coherent, end-to-end solution for all players in the business travel sector¡±. Most of these brands have been acquired by CDS over the past few years.

The companies now under the S4BT banner are: CDS, online booking tool Goelett, Germany¡¯s Corporate Rates Club (CRC), Travel Media Solution (TMS), enterprise resource planning specialist SIAP and Methodica, which offers services for TMCs and corporates.

CDS said in a statement that it had a ¡°clear ambition to become the European leader¡± in offering corporate travel services. The creation of S4BT was a ¡°key stage¡± in the group¡¯s development with more acquisitions ¡°under review to strengthen its international presence¡±.

The company added that S4BT collectively handles more than over €800 million in annual bookings and employs 450 staff across operations in five countries - France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Croatia.

As part of the restructure, Ziad Minkara, who is currently CEO of CDS Groupe also takes up the same role at S4BT.

¡°The creation of S4BT is a natural step in our strategy of consolidation and international expansion,¡± explained Minkara. ¡°It allows us to bring together our brands, expertise, technologies and people to build a strong, agile European group focused on user needs ¨C while remaining independent.¡±

Under the S4BT structure, each of the six brands retains its identity, business expertise and teams, while ¡°benefiting from the group¡¯s shared momentum¡±.

¡°This structure ensures both local continuity and strategic alignment across Europe. S4BT¡¯s ambition is clear: pool resources, accelerate innovation, develop new technology synergies, expand service offerings in each country and deliver more value to the industry,¡± the company added.

In an interview with Deplacements Pros, Minkara said S4BT¡¯s acquisition strategy ¡°focuses on the three major European markets: the United Kingdom, France and Germany¡±.

¡°For the UK, this is indeed under way,¡± he added. ¡°We are working on two signatures in parallel, because at any time a negotiation can fail. We are truly in periods of intense negotiation.¡±

Minkara said that it was planning to complete the acquisition of a UK-based company during 2025.

¡°We must understand our pace of development: we are in a structure which has the capacity to absorb one country, one brand, one entity per year,¡± he added. ¡°This is exactly what we have done for the past three years, and we are now in year four.¡±