A&K Travel Group, the parent company of luxury brands including Abercrombie & Kent, Crystal, Sanctuary Retreats, Cox & Kings and Akorn, is mulling a possible Initial Public Offering (IPO), says Cristina Levis, Group CEO.
According to a report in The Telegraph, A&K Travel Group is seriously evaluating a stock market listing in the next 12-24 months, potentially in the United States. Last month, A&K secured a definitive financing agreement for up to US$500 million to fund its continued expansion.
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Levis said the London-based luxury travel company would likely benefit from joining the stock market, enabling it to become “the Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy of luxury experiential travel.”
Should A&K Travel Group float on the New York Stock Exchange, the company would be capitalising on the huge rebound in luxury travel since the pandemic.
At the moment, it’s all systems go at A&K Travel Group, with new ships on the horizon for Crystal, a new small ship for the Amazon, additional luxury lodges for Africa and the Americas, new DMC’s opening around the globe including Mexico and Indonesia, alongside expansion of niche products such as the recently confirmed A&K Private Estates, revealed first by LATTE.
“At the moment, demand is very strong with obviously some exceptions with the situation in the Middle East,” Levis told the UK masthead.
“Our niche has always been very, very resilient – in the toughest moment in history, we have seen a continuous increase in demand.”
A decision on where to list Abercrombie & Kent wasn’t yet set in stone, however the NYSE had strong appeal given the company is expanding in the United States.
“We are still putting everything on a scale to try to understand what’s the best market for us to list,” Levis said, with other options in Europe also being evaluated.
