The deal

Our Corporate Finance team has advised new UK mid-market private equity house, Apiary Capital on the acquisition of The Appointment Group (TAG), and the associated debt raise to fund the purchase.

The team acted as lead and debt adviser to Apiary Capital, helping win the opportunity, assisting with evaluating the business and negotiations, deal structuring and debt advisory, as well as project managing the deal through to completion. Apiary Capital is a recently established mid-market private equity house, having recently closed its first fund at the £200m hard-cap. Led by Mark Salter, who has 16 years private equity experience, Apiary is planning to invest in the education, healthcare and business and technology services sectors. The acquisition of TAG is the first. The Debt Advisory team were retained to secure bank funding from Santander to support Apiary’s acquisition of TAG and provide working capital facilities.

Founded by John Gianquitto and Maurice Veronique in 1988, TAG is the leading travel management company to the global live music and entertainment touring industry. TAG works with tour managers to arrange complex, often global, travel itineraries for performing artists such as Jay-Z, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Foo Fighters and Depeche Mode, as well as their support teams and production crews. The company also serves the ‘high-touch’ segment of the corporate travel market, particularly the financial services, sports, film and media sectors, as well as providing event management services.

Headquartered in the UK, TAG has 270 employees across nine offices in four countries, including London, Manchester, Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, Singapore and Sydney. Apiary’s investment will drive transformational growth for TAG through acquisitions, investment in technology and people, as well as continued international expansion. TAG was advised by James Cowper, with legal advice from Pitmans, and management advisory from Livingstone Partners. Apiary Capital received legal advice from Browne Jacobson and due diligence support from RSM (financial) and Grant Thornton (commercial).

“The team played a valuable role in getting the deal completed, diligently supporting across a number of workstreams. We look forward to doing more deals with them in the future!” Nicki Boyd, Partner at Apiary Capital.

“This is an incredible milestone for The Appointment Group. Apiary’s investment will enable the Group to accelerate its growth through technology investment and expansion into new markets, whilst maintaining its reputation for peerless levels of customer service that everyone has come to expect from TAG.” John Gianquitto, Chairman and CEO of The Appointment Group.