Lifetime Training Group has been the subject of a management buy-out backed by Sovereign Capital

Arrowpoint Advisory's Business Services sector team has advised the shareholders of Lifetime Training Group on the investment in the business by private equity investor Sovereign Capital Partners.

Sovereign is backing the current management team led by David Foster and Heather Frankham and its investment will enable Lifetime to continue to actively grow through acquisition.

Established in 1995 as a fitness consultancy by the Executive Chairman of Lifetime, Heather Frankham, Bristol-based Lifetime has since expanded through organic and acquisitive growth to become one of the UK's 10 largest providers of vocational training courses. Lifetime offers Apprenticeships, NVQ's and other training courses across a range of sectors including: Leisure, Hospitality, Business Support Services, Retail and Social Care, and is the largest provider of vocational training to the fitness and leisure markets. Its client list includes David Lloyd Leisure, Fitness First, Nuffield and Moto and Hilton. In spite of the recession, Lifetime has managed to triple its sales in the last three years to 24 million last year.

Heather Frankham, Executive Chairman at Lifetime, said: The partnership with Sovereign is an exciting step in Lifetime's development and will help support and finance the objective of growing the business.”

Patrick Henchoz, Non-Executive Director at Lifetime added: The Arrowpoint Advisory team added huge value to the company and the shareholders throughout the entire process, allowing us to draw on their deep sector knowledge and PE expertise to achieve a successful outcome.”

Simon Cope-Thompson, Managing Director at Arrowpoint Advisory commented: Given its track record of supporting buy and build programmes and its depth of experience in the sector, Sovereign is an excellent partner for the Lifetime team as they continue to expand.”

“We believe that this is an exciting time for high quality training companies with strong management teams to secure external funding. Lifetime is an excellent example of what can be achieved.”

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