Karavel Groupe

Who owns Karavel Groupe?

Karavel Groupe is currently owned by Montefiore Investment through Montefiore VI (2024 vintage), since 2025. Across its history, Karavel Groupe has been through 2 private equity ownership periods, detailed in the timeline below.

Hand-verified · updated 2026-05-26

About Karavel Groupe

Karavel Groupe is a Paris-based online travel group that sells package holidays, tour packages and cruises through its flagship Promovacances brand alongside FRAM and ABcroisieres, combining an e-commerce platform with a network of around 170 physical agencies across France. It ranks among France's largest online tourism players, offering deals at more than 250 clubs and resorts and over 500 tour packages worldwide. The group draws more than 7 million unique visitors a month and serves close to one million customers a year, generating annual revenue above EUR 1 billion. It employs roughly 1,000 people across its brands and agency network.

Ownership journey

The group traces its origins to Promovacances, an online travel retailer launched in Paris in 2000, and later combined with the long-established FRAM tour operator to form a single French online travel group. In April 2018 Equistone Partners Europe acquired a majority stake through its Fund V, backing a secondary buyout and supporting the management team led by Cyrille Fradin and Folco Aloisi. Equistone exited in 2025 via a secondary transaction, with management retaining a significant stake in the business. Arcmont Asset Management provided debt financing through its Direct Lending Fund IV in support of the 2025 change of ownership, acting as a lender rather than an equity holder.

Under PE ownership

Under Equistone's ownership from 2018 to 2025 the group roughly doubled its revenue, rising from about EUR 507 million to more than EUR 1.1 billion, while headcount grew from around 648 to over 1,000. The sponsor backed four bolt-on acquisitions, including the 2019 purchase of Thomas Cook's French agency network, and funded a digital transformation of the platform. When the COVID-19 pandemic halted travel, Equistone injected several follow-on equity commitments and helped arrange more than EUR 50 million in state-guaranteed loans and subsidies to stabilise the business. The group repositioned its clubs and flexible travel offering and emerged as a stronger player in the post-pandemic French market.