Key Travel has been acquired by Elysian Capital

Arrowpoint Advisory's Business Services sector team has advised the shareholders of Key Travel, a leading travel management company (‘TMC’) for the humanitarian, faith and academic sectors, on its management buy-out backed by Elysian Capital.

Key Travel is the leading TMC dedicated to humanitarian, faith and academic sectors. Currently operating in 54 countries worldwide, with over 1,900 clients, Key Travel provides travel and risk management services to clients such as WWF and ActionAid, along with 40% of the top 24 research-based universities in the UK including Oxford, Cambridge and King's College London.

Livingbridge backed the management buy-out of Key Travel in July 2013. Its investment helped to accelerate the Group's US expansion through the opening of its Philadelphia office in 2013 and the 2016 acquisition of Boston based OT&T. The Group now has seven offices across the UK, Europe and US.

Key's management team has also been bolstered significantly over the past six years with the recruitment of current CEO, Saad Hammad alongside the appointments of Alex Davis as CFO and David Burns as CTO.

Saad Hammad, CEO at Key Travel, commented: “We are thrilled with the progress that Key Travel has made over the past five years. With Livingbridge's backing and guidance we have grown to be the largest international TMC exclusively focusing on the humanitarian, faith and academic sectors. With the support of our new partners, Elysian Capital, we look forward to ramping up our global growth across new geographies over the coming years and fulfilling our ambition to double in size over the medium term.”

Bevan Duncan at Livingbridge, said: “Arrowpoint Advisory's track record in the sector and deep understanding of the business made them the obvious choice to advise us on exit. Their sector knowledge, strategic guidance and pragmatic approach were instrumental in helping us execute a successful transaction in a short timeframe, which all of the shareholders are delighted with.”

James Lever, Managing Director, at Arrowpoint Advisory, concluded: “We have known Key Travel for a number of years having advised on the acquisition by Livingbridge in 2013 and were delighted to have had the opportunity to work with the business again. Key Travel has a market leading international proposition with an exceptional management team led by CEO Saad Hammad alongside CFO Alex Davis, who we expect to continue to grow the business globally alongside their new investor.”

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