DLJ takes school trip specialist

London-based mid-market outfit Bowmark Capital has made a 4x return on the sale of Education and Adventure Travel (EAT) to DLJ Merchant Banking Partners for £100m.

EAT, a UK school travel group, was created by Bowmark through the merger of School Travel Group (STG) and Kingswood Educational Group. STG began life as School Travel Service, a company which Bowmark acquired in December 2004 and then made four bolt-on acquisitions between 2005 and 2007.

The private equity firm invested a total of £18m into the company, generating an IRR of 63%.

Bowmark senior partner, Mark Salter, said: “While the number of operators in the sector has undergone considerable consolidation in the past few years, we believe there is more to come. Via a targeted buy-and-build strategy, we have brought together several complementary businesses, and an executive team with unrivalled experience of this market, to create a highly successful business with excellent growth prospects.”