As far as names go, you couldn’t get better than a name like lastminute, it’s one of the legends of the dot-com era, founded in 1998, and thus when it came onto the market, Bravofly Rumbo Group snapped it up and for a song.

The acquisition, finalised in March, saw the Swiss travel group take lastminute.com off Sabre Corporation’s hands for US$120 million or £76m. Sabre bought it in 2005 in a deal that valued it at £577m.

Fabio Cannavale speaking at Phocuswright Europe with PCW’s Lorraine Sileo. “There is incredible awareness of lastminute.com”

Speaking at Phocuswright Europe, Fabio Cannavale, chairman of Bravofly Rumbo Group, jested that he bought it because it was cheap but he also knew it was a very good brand.

“There is incredible awareness of lastminute.com,” he said.

When the deal was finalised, Cannavale said, “lastminute.com’s iconic and extremely popular brand combined with our capability to execute, is a cornerstone that will empower our teams to do their best, be spontaneous and achieve our ambitious target to be the unconventional leader of the European market with €5 billion GTV in 2020.”

But it is clear that the group, renamed lastminute.com on May 19, has ambitions beyond Europe, and is setting its sights as well on the Middle East and Asia.

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