Equistone sells Audley Travel to 3i

Greg Gille
22 December 2015

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3i has acquired Audley Travel, a UK-based bespoke travel company, from Equistone.

3i Group invested £159m in exchange for a majority stake in the business. Equistone declined to comment on the company's total enterprise value and the returns generated upon the exit.

Equistone purchased Audley Travel for an estimated £95m in 2012, with Barclays and RBS providing debt facilities. The GP invested via its Equistone Fund IV vehicle, which closed on €1.5bn at the beginning of 2013.

This marks the third exit from the fund, which is understood to have returned between 50-60% of commitments to its investors following the Audley Travel deal.

During the investment period, Equistone installed a new CEO and chair for the business, which went on to expand internationally with the opening of an office in the US. Revenues doubled to reach £165m across that same time-frame.

Management reinvested alongside 3i in this latest transaction and will look to pursue the same growth strategy in the coming years - namely bolstering the company's UK presence, developing the US activities and expanding into new international markets.

Company
Established in 1996, Audley Travel designs bespoke holidays to 80 countries for UK and US customers. The business is headquartered in Witney with offices in London and Boston.

Audley Travel employs 380 staff and is expected to see annual revenues grow by 20% to a forecast £165m in 2015. In its 2014 accounts, the company reported sales of £135m with an EBITDA margin of around 11%, with operating profits coming in at around £15m.

People
Tom Salmon represented 3i on the deal. Equistone was represented by Phil Griesbach and Joyce Church.

Advisers
Equity - Baird (Corporate finance); Ropes & Gray (Legal); Deloitte (Financial due diligence, tax); Parthenon (Commercial due diligence); Spark Optimus (Commercial due diligence); Arthur J Gallagher (Insurance due diligence); White Hart Associates (Regulatory due diligence).
Vendor - Rothschild (M&A); Travers Smith (Legal); PwC (Financial due diligence); OC&C (Commercial due diligence).