Midlothian acquires HB Education for £467m

Greg Gille
29 October 2018

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India-based Cox & Kings has sold its UK education business, with brands including PGL and Travelworks, to Midlothian Capital Partners for ТЃ467m.

The transaction is still subject to regulatory approvals, consents and customary closing adjustments.

Midlothian was founded in 2015 and focuses on investments in consumer and retail businesses. HB Education is its third consumer deal in the past two years following the £210m acquisition of Dobbies Garden Centres from Tesco in 2016 and the £110m purchase of Park Leisure in 2017.

Ares Management provided finance to support the acquisition.

Midlothian's three partners will take a seat on the board of HB Education. They plan on continuing to expand the company both in the UK and internationally, with the current management team remaining in place following the deal.

Company
HB Education is an outdoor education and study travel group. It provides residential adventure and study trips for schools, youth organisations and young people through the PGL brand, and with educational travel tours for schools and higher education students through the NST, EST and Studylink brands. Its Travelplus brand in Germany focuses on language travel and gap-year experiences.

The company was founded in the late 1950s and was acquired by Holidaybreak in 2007. It was acquired by Cox & Kings in 2011.

The business posted revenues of £160m in the most recent financial year, with EBITDA of £30m.

People
Midlothian Capital Partners – Neil Currie, Andrew Bracey, Aidan Clegg (partners).

Advisers
Equity – Rothschild (corporate finance); Slaughter and May (legal); EY (financial due diligence, tax).
Vendor – Eversheds Sutherland (legal); Baird (corporate finance).
Debt – Dechert (legal).