A Travers Smith team led by head of private equity, Paul Dolman has advised long standing client Kings Park Capital LLP (“KPC”) on the acquisition of a majority stake in Specialist Tours Limited (“STL”), a niche multi-brand tour operator.
The Travers Smith team also included tax partner Russell Warren, corporate associates Ian Keefe and Katie McGarry and tax associate Camilla Southall.
STL owns a number of specialist travel brands that provide small group, expert-led archaeology and history tours to nearly 3,000 customers across 135 itineraries to over 80 destinations across the world. STL’s ‘Andante Travels’ brand is recognised as a leader in archaeology travel in the UK and has been nominated for numerous industry awards including winning ‘Best Small Holiday Company for Customer Service’ at the British Travel Awards 2013.
STL is based in Salisbury and employs over 30 people. It was created through the acquisition of Andante Travels, an archaeology specialist, in 2013, Historical Trips, a modern history specialist, in 2014 and Lindstone Inc. (t/a Archaeological Tours), an archaeology specialist based in New York, USA, in March 2015 and, as part of this transaction, STL is also acquiring a UK-based specialist wine tours business.
The group will continue to be led by Ian Finlay, the CEO, and other members of the senior management team will also remain with the business.
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