SSG Capital Management acquires equity stake in Cox & Kings subsidiary; Rohatyn Group exits

Investment fund manager, SSG Capital Management (SSG) has through its flagship fund acquired a 34.4 percent equity stake in Cox & Kings' subsidiary Holidaybreak Ltd. (HBR) from existing investors.

HBR houses the brands PGL, NST, Travelworks, and Meininger. The Rohatyn Group have now exited the business.

Despite significant GBP depreciation, The Rohatyn Group has now made a complete and profitable exit from HBR at an aggregate enterprise value of approximately USD 800 million, implying a strong underlying HBR franchise value.

Cox & Kings itself continues to own 65.6 percent of HBR's outstanding equity.

SSG Capital Group is a long term investor in Cox & Kings Ltd. with a three percent stake.

The HBR investment is one of SSG's most significant India investments for 2017. This investment comes after similar equity investments in Future Supply Chain Solutions Ltd. (Future Group) and in the NBFC TFCI.

"We are delighted to partner with Cox & Kings in the further development of HBR's niche brands such as PGL and Meininger. Over the next few years, SSG intends to work with HBR in capitalizing on significant growth enjoyed by HBR's education and hospitality brands over the past five years. We plan to do this by positioning education and hospitality as separate and distinct brands capable of independently generating profits for HBR," said SSG founding partner, Shyam Maheshwari.

"PGL and NST are leaders in the experiential learning space in the UK. They have successfully expanded into Australia and have also attracted strong numbers of inbound student traffic into the UK from locations such as other parts of Europe and China. At the same time, Meininger has evolved as a leader in the high-growth hybrid hotel-hostel space, which has recently seen significant interest from leading global private equity players," concluded Maheshwari.