Investor REL Capital buys South Mimms Travel and Reg’s Coaches

Rel Capital has bought South Mimms Travel and Regs Coaches in £2m deal, marking their fifth coach company acquisition in two years.

The deal marks a change in acquisition strategy from struggling/distressed opportunities, to buying profitable retirement sales, says REL Capital, which said it is paying two to three times stabilised earnings on purchases.

Andy Scott. Chairman of REL Capital said: “With fewer operators, and existing owners going through a pretty terrible few years with Covid, driver shortages and increased costs, it’s understandable operators want to go and enjoy life and have a well earned rest.

“REL understands the sector, see the massive opportunities of consolidation having the ability to back industry-leading management teams with scale and opportunity to become a national group of independent operators without losing their identity, it’s an exciting time with two other retirement sales in the pipeline.

“We are actively looking to talk to other operators looking to retire or of course requiring investment. We pride ourselves on being pain-free to deal with, getting share purchases completed within a couple of weeks, and basically doing what we say we will do, so welcome chats with other operators.”

All 40 jobs will be retained at both South Mimms and Regs which are both already profitable, said Andy. Further Investment in newer fleet and growth are planned for both companies over the coming year under same management team.

Other sector investments are performing well and REL is looking to grow the premium South London operator Redwing brand over its three depots, back to 40-50 Mercedes coaches over the coming two years, with the appointment of Tom Maidmen as Director, coming from G4S Patient Transport.