A new force in the travel sector has been created by the simultaneous completion of two transactions, intended to be the first stage of a buy and build play in the specialist travel sector, in which Sheffield based dealmaking firm, Castle Square Corporate Finance played a key role.

The transactions have a combined funding requirement of £23m and were backed by Private Equity Investor Zachary Asset Holdings with HSBC providing £12.750m of acquisition finance and working capital facilities, to sit alongside the equity investment made by Zachary Asset Holdings and the management team.

In the first transaction the senior management team of Glasgow based Stewart Travel led by Duncan Wilson, Rick Green and Brian Cassidy completed the Management Buy-Out of the company from  AIM listed Minoan PLC supported by the private equity funders, Zachary Asset Holdings.

Middlesex based Canterbury Travel, a specialist provider of Lapland holidays has also been acquired and will be integrated into the group under the banner of newly created Brooklyn Travel Holdings, which had been formed as a Bid Co to complete both acquisitions.

Stewart Travel is a travel business specialising in providing niche holidays to the independent travel market, specialising into high growth areas of the travel market, such as Cruise, Canada, Lapland and Golf, sold via online and offline distribution channels, to consumers throughout the UK.

The company sees its ability to design complex trips with multiple aspects and provide expert advice from experienced and knowledgeable staff as key differentiators from mainstream travel companies, resulting in double digit growth in revenues year on year during its 6-year history from start up to management buyout, while being part of the Minoan Group PLC.

Canterbury Travel was established in 1970 by its current owners and has become one of the leading providers of Lapland holidays in the UK, providing magical holidays to Santa Villages. The company owns a wide selection of Santa-themed villas as well as hotels and offers a range of Arctic activities such as sleigh rides with husky’s, snowmobile experiences, reindeer safari’s and catching sight of the Northern Lights. Founder Dolores Collins will remain involved in the business as a consultant, and existing managers Tara Collins and Jacqui Banham will continue managing the business.

Duncan Wilson has a proven track record in building businesses in the travel sector, with his roles including; being the CEO of Direct Holidays PLC which was sold to Airtours Group of which he later became UK CEO. The Airtours Group was then rebranded as My Travel Group PLC their annual revenues ran into several £bn’s as it was merged with Thomas Cook Group.

After a short spell out of the industry following the merger with Thomas Cook Duncan joined Minoan PLC initially as a non-executive director. He then established Stewart Travel within the PLC, recruiting Rick Green and Brian Cassidy, who had extensive experience within the travel industry having worked with Duncan in the previous businesses.

Managing Director Duncan Wilson said, “We are all delighted to have concluded what was a reasonably complicated series of transactions.  We warmly welcome everyone connected to Canterbury business to the Brooklyn Travel family of companies.

On a personal note I would like to thank Kevan Shaw and Steve Bell of Castle Square.  Without their steadfast support and guidance this would not have happened.  I offer any management team one piece of advice ‘Chose Castle Square, they are the best’.

Lead Advisory firm, Castle Square Corporate Finance, led by Director Kevan Shaw, provided corporate finance advice to the management team and Brooklyn Travel Holdings on both acquisitions and led the bank fundraising process, which led to HSBC being selected as preferred debt funder.

Kevan Shaw said, “I am delighted to see these two transactions complete as they create the platform for this high calibre management team to deliver the rapid organic growth that is planned alongside a buy and build acquisition strategy    Completing a Management Buy-Out from a listed PLC and an acquisition simultaneously, backed by Private Equity and leveraged bank debt is as complicated as M & A work could get and not without challenges. Knowing how much it meant to the management team it is fantastic to have been involved in helping to see both deals across the line”.

Rick Haller led the investment on behalf of London based Private Equity funder, Zachary Asset Holdings.

Rick Haller said “We’ve known Duncan and his team for the past 4 years and have been very impressed with the results they’ve achieved.  We are delighted to back them and their growth strategy going forward.”

Tom Green and James Scholes of the HSBC Leveraged Finance team in Leeds led the transaction on behalf of HSBC.

James Scholes of HSBC said “Duncan, Rick and Brian are a formidable team and we’re delighted to back them, alongside Zachary Asset Holdings, in these transactions. The business has delivered excellent growth and has big ambitions – qualities HSBC are very keen to support. We’re looking forward to seeing what comes next for this dynamic business.”

 

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