Fox Williams LLP advised the shareholders of Enigma Travel Group Limited on the sale of its issued share capital to Hotelplan (UK Group) Limited.
Enigma owns Esprit Holidays, the UK’s leading family ski specialist, and Ski Total, a leading specialist for adult skiers and groups in the quality catered chalet and chalet hotel sector. Hotelplan owns the specialist tour operators Inghams and Inntravel and is a subsidiary of the major Swiss retailer, Migros. The merger has created one of the leading ski tour operators in the UK. The purchase price, which is substantial, is confidential.
The selling shareholders included ISIS Equity Partners, Peter Dyer (the founder and the Chairman of Enigma) and Andy Perrin (the Managing Director of Enigma). The Enigma management team will assume the key management roles in the combined business going forward, with Andy Perrin becoming the Group CEO of Hotelplan’s operations in the UK.
The Fox Williams team included Peter Faber, Emma Bailey, Howard Taylor, Bruce McGinn, Sharon O’Donnell, Deepash Patel, Matthew Giddings and Laura Evans. Peter Faber commented: “This is a landmark deal in the UK Ski Tour operation sector, combining what is generally regarded at the sector’s most experienced management team (Enigma) with one of the leading established brands, Inghams. This is the latest in a long line of deals with which I have been involved for Peter Dyer and his team, going back many years, and I am delighted that Fox Williams has played a leading role in the transaction. I am optimistic that, with the Enigma management team in charge of the combined business, there will continue to be good opportunities for Fox Williams in a number of areas of our business”.
Andy Perrin commented that the service provided by the Fox Williams team was “spectacular”.
