Summit Advisory Advises on Sale of Mickledore Travel to KE Adventures

Summit Advisory was delighted to facilitate the successful sale of Mickledore Travel for its founders, Sonja and Rick Cooper, to KE Adventures, on 13 December 2018.

Mickledore is the third UK company in two years to join the Voyageurs du Monde travel group, following their acquisitions of Original Travel in January 2017 and KE Adventure Travel in July 2017. The Voyageurs du Monde group had a global turnover of 429 million euros in 2017.

‘We have a strong demand for niche activity and adventure travel businesses’ stated Deborah Potts, Founding Director, Summit Advisory. ‘This was a highly competitive process and we are delighted to have sourced this deal for Rick and Sonja’, she added. ‘Furthermore, we have been very impressed by the senior management at Voyageurs du Monde and it has also been a pleasure to work closely with Ashley Toft, KE’s chief executive, too.’

Following the successful sale, Rick and Sonja Cooper stated:

‘We have recently completed the sale of our walking holiday company Mickledore Travel, to KE Adventure Travel / Voyageurs du Monde. Thanks to the support and expertise of Deborah and Gaby, we have found a great home for Mickledore, and are sure the business will maintain its individuality and continue to prosper under its new ownership. Summit has a thorough understanding of the market. Their advice was important helping us decide when to go to market, and Deborah’s extensive contacts were instrumental in generating a healthy level of interest from the trade. Deborah and her team appreciate the level of commitment and emotional resilience needed to get through the sale, and were there throughout the process to keep things moving and support us through the difficult patches. The end result was a sale achieved within 8 months of going to the market, at a healthy multiple, to company we are sure will look after the staff and the brand.’

Further Information:

Lead Advisor Deborah Potts worked closely with her colleague, Gaby Marcon-Clarke on the project. Sell side accountants were Elman Wall Travel Accountants led by Yasin Khandwalla. Legal advisors were Hill Dickinson.

Contact:

Deborah Potts

T: 020 7600 5772

E: deborah@summitadvisory.co.uk