Inflexion acquires Virgin Experience Days

A source close to the situation told unquote" the deal gives Virgin Experience Days' holding company Acorne an enterprise value in the region of £30m.

The GP drew capital for the transaction from Enterprise Fund IV, which closed on £250m in May 2016. The vehicle invests £10-20m for both majority and minority stakes.

Following the deal, Virgin Experience Days will look to expand into new international markets and will relaunch its B2B division, offering experience days as part of employee rewards programmes.

As part of the transaction, the GP has introduced Riviera Travel chairperson Simon McMurtrie as chairperson and Matthew Briggs, former CEO and founder of The Law Superstore, as commercial director. Inflexion head of enterprise Tom Pemberton and investment executive Shiva Tiwari will take a seat on the company's board.

A spokesperson for Inflexion declined to comment on debt associated with the transaction.

Company
Founded in 1989 and headquartered in Bourne End, Buckinghamshire, Virgin Experience Days sells luxury- and activity-focused day trips. In addition to its consumer operations, the company also operates a B2B platform offering experience days for employee rewards and recognition programmes. According to a statement issued by Inflexion, the company has doubled its revenues to £50m over the last three years.

In the year ending June 2016, the company generated a turnover of £46m, according to publicly available documents, with operating profit of £2.4m.

People
Inflexion Private Equity – Tim Smallbone (head of Enterprise fund); Shiva Tiwari, Robin Senivassen (investment executives).
Virgin Experience Days – Paul O'Brien (CEO).

Advisers
Company – Bishopsgate Corporate Finance (corporate finance).

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• Topics
• Buyouts
• UK / Ireland
• Consumer
• United Kingdom
• Inflexion Private Equity