Kleinwort Capital seals deal

Tweedpark Group has secured a commitment of GBP5.5 million from Kleinwort Capital, formerly known as Dresdner Kleinwort Benson Private Equity see evcj November, page 8. The investment marks the first transaction for Kleinwort Capital under its new status and will be the first investment from its new fund which has secured anchor funding of GBP100 million from Kleinwort Capital Trust and Dresdner Bank.

Tweedpark Group provides health and fitness services to UK corporate businesses. The company assists with planning, set-up, equipping, and ongoing management of on-site fitness facilities, health education, fitness assessment and personal training. The management buyout/buy-in of the group sees the introduction of two new members of management, Chris Jessop and KP Doyle, who were recently senior executives within the BUPA Group. Kleinwort Capital is backing these two members, along with the existing management team led by Tweedpark’s founder Brian Davies.

The strategy going forward is to add additional products and services, creating a unique healthcare services provider for the corporate sector. The company currently has annual turnover of GBP7 million and has achieved turnover growth in excess of 20 per cent per annum over the last four years. Clients include Merrill Lynch, Clifford Chance and Glaxo SmithKline.

The management team was advised on the investment by Grant Thornton Corporate Finance and Travers Smith Braithwaite. Kleinwort Capital was advised by Macfarlanes with commercial due diligence provided by Burlington Consultants, financial due diligence by Deloitte & Touche and insurance due diligence by Aon.

Philip Conboy, director at Kleinwort Capital which led the deal, said: “We are backing a highly experienced management team to take advantage of the fragmented nature of the UK corporate healthcare market and establish a business focused on providing high quality health and fitness services.”