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Founding partners re-aquire Landry & Kling Joyce Landry and Josephine Kling, who established their pioneering corporate cruise agency in 1982, acquired Landry & Kling, Inc. from NLG, Seatrade Insider has learned. The deal closed today. Landry will serve as ceo and Kling, who rejoined the Miami-based company in December, will serve as president. The partners acquired 100% of the stock in Landry & Kling, Inc. and all of its debts and assets from NLG. ‘We're positive on the ever-expanding opportunities that are available in the cruise industry for corporate meetings and incentives and we intend to gather a larger share of the market through this acquisition,' Landry told Seatrade Insider. ‘We are looking forward to re-energizing the operations. Strategic partnerships are definitely part of our plan going forward,' Kling said. Landry & Kling was the first true cruise-only agency when it opened on New York 's Madison Avenue in 1982. ‘We didn't do any other kind of travel when we started the company. We were told by cruise executives there was not enough volume to support specialization,' Kling recalled. Landry & Kling focused on corporate cruises from the start, even before lines formally established their own corporate and incentive departments. The company relocated to Miami in 1988. It was acquired seven years ago by publicly held MyTravel, which was sold to Airtours of the U.K. Airtours sold its cruise divisions to Boston-based giant NLG in September 2003. Landry & Kling's clients include a number of Fortune 500 companies. In February, the firm managed the largest single-client ship charter in history: five vessels chartered to the Jacksonville Super Bowl Host Committee to serve as floating hotels and entertainment venues for Super Bowl XXXIX |