News & Events | News

Friday 18th July 2008

Leading Private Equity Law Firm, SJ Berwin LLP, has advised long standing client Bowmark Capital, the mid-market private equity firm in the UK, on the sale of the capital of Education and Adventure Travel (EAT), the UK school travel group, to DLJ Merchant Banking Partners for £100 million.  EAT is a leading specialist educational travel services business, providing activity and adventure trips, educational tours and school ski trips to over 200,000 students each year.

SJ Berwin LLP also advised Bowmark Capital when it created EAT through the merger of the School Travel Group (STG) and Kingswood Educational Group (Kingswood) in October 2007, with STG and Kingswood being acquired by Bowmark Capital in 2004 and 2005, respectively.

Corporate partner Jonathan Pittal led the deal for SJ Berwin supported by Tahira Bano and Rob Fowler.

Jonathan Pittal commented “This was a significant achievement for Bowmark Capital, especially having regard to the current market conditions.  It is very satisfying to assist a client with a successful exit of an investment we helped them acquire.” 

Charles Ind, Managing Partner of Bowmark Capital, commented: “We are grateful to Jonathan and his team for their advice and support throughout the process. The quality of SJ Berwin continues to be outstanding and the team has, once again, demonstrated the highest standards of professionalism.”

For further information please contact:

Jonathan Pittal, Corporate Partner on 0207 111 2280 or by emailing jonathan.pittal@sjberwin.com

Sara Mahdavian, Business Development Executive on 0207 111 5074 or by emailing sara.mahdavian@sjberwin.com

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Notes To Editors

• With more than 200 corporate finance lawyers, the depth and breadth of expertise of our pan-European Corporate Finance Department is considerable.  We offer the complete range of corporate finance services, which extends to all aspects of domestic and cross-border M&A and buy-outs, private equity, equity capital markets, financial services and tax.
• SJ Berwin was created and thrives as a leading-edge legal services business, focusing on the European and international market place. Our clients are sophisticated buyers of legal services, principally entrepreneurial companies and financial institutions, whom we advise on a comprehensive range of services including Corporate, Commercial, Real Estate, Finance, Reconstruction & Insolvency, Financial Services, Litigation, Employment & Pensions, EU & Competition and Tax.
• The private equity team has won a number of recent awards including:
• “Corporate Team of the Year - Mid Market" at The Lawyer Awards 2007
• “UK Firm of the Year” at the Global Chambers Awards 2007
• “Private Equity Team of the Year” Financial News Legal Awards 2007  
• "European Law Firm of the Year (Fund Formation) 2007" Private Equity International Awards
• “Fund Formation Team of the Year” 2006 at the Financial News Awards for Excellence in Private Equity Advisory Services
• “European Law Firm of the Year" 2004 -  2006 at the EVCA/Real Deals European Private Equity Awards
• ”European Law Firm of the Year" (fund formation) 2001 - 2007 by subscribers to PrivateEquityOnline and Private Equity International
• "Private Equity Law Firm of the Year" 2004 -  2007 at the European Venture Capital journal awards 2004
• "LBO Firm of the Year" 2004 at the Finance and Law Awards in Paris
• On 1 June 2005, SJ Berwin became SJ Berwin LLP, a limited liability partnership.  www.sjberwin.com.  SJ Berwin LLP or an affiliated undertaking has an office in Berlin, Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Milan, Munich, Paris and Turin