Icelolly acquired in £17m buyout
FAST growing Yorkshire online holiday price comparison site Icelolly has completed a £17m buyout, backed by investor Palatine Private Equity.
The deal sees former LateRooms chief executive and chairman Chris Allen join the Bradford-based company as non-executive chairman.
The Icelolly.com holiday price comparison website offers around 40 million holiday packages from over 50 UK-based tour operators. The business also trades as an online travel agent via a series of brands, as well as selling advertising space via its site traffic and email database.
The company has enjoyed year-on-year growth since it was founded in 2005 and is expected to generate record turnover and profits in the current year.
The buyout was led by Icelolly chief executive Dave Clayton, who has 23 years’ experience in the travel industry having spent 11 years at Global Travel before joining the company.
Palatine partner Andy Lees and investment director Beth Houghton led the deal and will both join the Icelolly board as non-executive directors.
Andy Lees said: “The travel sector was an early adopter of ecommerce with more consumers researching online to find the best deals for their holidays. Icelolly is a fantastic business with a strong and vibrant brand identity offering excellent value to its customers.
“We are really pleased to be joining the team and supporting the business through its next stage of growth.”
Dave Clayton added: “Icelolly.com had 28 million visitors last year, and the brand has quickly become a household name for great value holidays. We have spent the last three months getting to know Palatine, and they share the same vision for the future as our very experienced management team.
“I am delighted they have decided to invest in what promises to be a very exciting chapter in the company’s development. The company has exciting plans to add content and functionality to the site, and is planning to move to new offices to accommodate plans for growth.”
A team at Altium in Manchester provided corporate finance advice to Palatine, led by managing director Simon Lord and supported by Chris Hopwood and Jon Stead.
Founders Adrian Walton and Lesley Etienne who are both exiting the business, said: “The last eight years since we launched Icelolly.com have flown, and we have enjoyed some great times along the way. We have worked with some fantastic people, and we are confident that Dave Clayton, the management team and Palatine private equity will steer the company where it needs to go.”
Sempora provided commercial due diligence to Palatine and Dow Schofield Watts Transaction Services provided financial due diligence. Partner Gregg Davison led a team at Pinsent Masons who provided legal support to Palatine.
The Quinn Partnership carried out management due diligence with Marsh providing insurance diligence. MSA Law and Hilton Legal provided tax and legal advice to the vendors.
Matt Peters of Maxaim provided transaction support to the management team and legal advice was provided by Kate Richards of Gateley.
