Matrix Private Equity Partners has invested GBP4.3m in the management buyout and recapitalisation of Iglu.com, the UK’s largest ski and fastest growing cruise holiday travel agent.
Matrix provided both the equity and the debt for the transaction, which is its second new investment in four days.
Iglu.com founder and managing director Richard Downs identified the potential for an internet travel agency specialising in ski holidays in 1998. In 2005 Iglu.com entered the cruise holiday sector.
Mark Wignall, chief executive of Matrix Private Equity Partners, says: “Amidst a dearth of M&A activity the small buyout market wheel keeps on turning. Businesses in the UK need the funding to grow and MPEP is finding that there is huge opportunity within the small buyout space, having completed three investments and two exits since the summer.”
Downs adds: “There was significant interest in our business from both trade and private equity. We chose Matrix because of their collegiate approach and for their pragmatic, strategic advice. It is also for this reason that substantially all of our existing investors have decided to retain some level of shareholding in the business. We all look forward to developing Iglu.com to its full potential in the next few years.”
