Palatine invests in TTC Group

Following the deal, TTC managing director Jim Kirkwood will continue to lead the business, while the company's founders Graham Wynn and Jenny Wynn will retain a stake.

Under its new ownership structure, the business will undertake an acquisitive growth strategy and expand its range of services, with an initial focus on its corporate driver training division. The investment by Palatine comes four years after TTC acquired cycling course provider Cycle Experience in order to expand beyond the automotive space.

The deal is the fourth investment made from Palatine's third fund, which held a final close on its £220m hard-cap in June 2015. It is also the GP's second investment made from its Midlands office, which opened 18 months ago.

A spokesperson for Palatine declined to comment on the deal valuation.

Debt
Santander Corporate and Commercial Banking provided a debt package to support the deal.

Company
Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Telford, TTC provides road safety courses for drivers and cyclists. Its clients include local authorities, police forces, schools, colleges and businesses that want to provide workplace road safety courses. It also provides court-referred courses for people found guilty of drink driving or speeding.

TTC has a headcount of 123 staff and serves 330,000 clients. According to publicly available documents, it generated a turnover of £27.2m in 2016 with operating profits of £1.9m.

People
Palatine Private Equity – Tony Dickin (partner); Richard Thomas (head of Midlands, investment director); James Painter (investment executive).
TTC Group – Jim Kirkwood (CEO).

Advisers
Equity – Catalyst Corporate Finance (corporate finance); Gateley (legal); RSM (corporate finance); Grant Thornton (financial due diligence); Fairgrove Partners (commercial due diligence); Global Counsel (political due diligence); Marsh (insurance due diligence); The Berkeley Partnership (management due diligence).
Vendor – EY (corporate finance); Blake Morgan (legal).

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