Investment August 2005
Business Outdoor Education
Why we invested
Kingswood operates in an attractive market, driven by government initiatives to promote outdoor education, and the growing trend for teachers to outsource the organisation of school trips to professional operators. This was an opportunity to back an experienced management team to accelerate the growth of their business, by investing in the expansion of its existing centres, and by acquiring and developing new sites in complementary locations.
Increase in beds
710
The result
During the three years of our ownership, Kingswood successfully acquired, developed and opened four new sites across the UK, resulting in a 40% increase in capacity. In 2007, Kingswood merged with The School Travel Group, another Bowmark portfolio company, to form a business with a major presence in each segment of the educational travel market – activity and adventure, ski and educational tours.
In 2008, the merged group was sold to DLJ Merchant Banking Partners for £100 million.
Paul Gilbert,Chief Executive
