Inflexion Private Equity, a mid-market private equity investor, has invested in travel business Griffin Global Group.
Headquartered in London, Griffin provides specialist travel services to the marine, offshore and cruise industries, arranging travel for crews rotating onto merchant ships, to oil and gas hubs and to cruise ships.
The business was founded in 1977 and has since expanded to deliver over GBP300m p.a. of travel services from 31 offices.
Griffin provides a completely outsourced service, enabling clients to eliminate the fixed cost of an in-house travel desk.
The investment is partly structured to allow the buyout of the estate of a deceased founder investor and partly to realign the equity interests of the ongoing management team.
As part of the transaction, Dick Porter, former chief executive of STA Travel, will join Griffin as non-executive chairman.
John Hartz, managing partner of Inflexion Private Equity, says: “Griffin is an excellent example of the type of business that Inflexion seeks to invest in: a leader in a niche market which delivers a vital service to its customers, resulting in high barriers to entry and a strong record of expansion. We look forward to working with the management team to optimise the numerous growth opportunities they have created.”
George Boyes, chief executive of Griffin, says: “Inflexion has strong expertise in all of the sectors that are relevant to Griffin and has shown its ability to expand international businesses. We have enjoyed working with the team during the deal process and look forward to their involvement in the next stage of Griffin’s growth story.”
John Hartz, Christian Hamilton, Gareth Healy and Andrew Leek led the transaction on behalf of Inflexion. Hamilton and Healy will join Griffin’s board.
PWC provided corporate finance advice to Griffin and KPMG advised Inflexion.
