On the Beach (United Kingdom) - Nov 2007

unquote
01 November 2007

Tweet
Facebook
LinkedIn
Google plus
Send to

Investors

ISIS Equity Partners has acquired a significant stake in On the Beach, an online retailer of beach holidays. The deal was introduced to ISIS by Rickett Mitchell which ran a limited auction process to enable several founding family members to exit the business. ISIS believes the new board members and finance director involved in its bid, its sector experience and its regional presence in the North West helped it to win the deal. The value of the deal was not disclosed, although it was reported to be in the region of £40m. ISIS invested alongside debt provided by Yorkshire Bank as part of this replacement capital/growth capital deal. ISIS was attracted to the opportunity to invest in the online dynamic packaging travel sector due to its potential for high growth. On the Beach is well-placed to benefit from the structural change in the travel market, including the penetration of the internet, the demand from customers for flexibility and the increasing number of holidays taken per person per year. On the Beach is already achieving high levels of repeat custom and has a growing customer base.

Company

Macclesfield-based On the Beach was established in 2004. It is a leading player in the online travel market offering consumers a huge selection of flights and more than 30,000 hotels from which to choose and build their own holiday online. On the Beach also has an office in Manchester. It employs 68 staff and has a turnover of approximately £80m.

People

The investment was led by Andy Gregory, Daniel Smith and James Titmuss of ISIS. Daniel Smith and Adam Holloway of ISIS take seats on the board of On the Beach. Simon Cooper is the founder and CEO of On the Beach. As part of ISIS’s investment, John Donaldson and David Scowsill have joined as non-executive directors and Geoff Wood as finance director. Peter Smith and Ian Hardman led the deal for Yorkshire Bank. The company's products provide destination specific information directly to travellers before and during their holidays and allow them to interact via keywords to obtain specific information as and when required.

Advisers

Debt - Halliwells, Rick Sealy (Legal)Equity - Hammonds, Gregg Davison (Legal)Equity - Intuitus, Phil Jones (Technical/IT Advice)Equity - KPMG, Andrew Lancaster, Chris Langrick, Georgina Pandeli, John Hughes, Kashif Yamin, Mark Farlow (Financial Due Diligence)Vendor - Pannone & Partners, Philip Treanor (Legal)Vendor - Rickett Mitchell Manchester, Matthew Bryden-Smith, Paul Mitchell, Tim Ritchie (Corporate Finance)