Cox & Kings Ltd is offloading its education travel business, which includes the PGL holiday company.
The operator has reached an agreement to sell PGL parent company HB Education Ltd to UK based investor Midlothian Capital Partners and a consortium of investors for £467 million in cash.
Cox & Kings bought HB Education in 2011 when it acquired UK based Holidaybreak Ltd.
HB Education offers travel programmes for students at residential activity centres and study tours. In addition to its PGL brand, it also operates several others, including Travelworks, and Studylink.
New owner MCP, which bought holiday home operator Parks Leisure last year, plans to expand PGL, which owns 26 regional activity centres in the UK, Spain, France and Australia, and will keep the current management structure in place.
MCP described HB Education as a ‘very robust business’.
Cox & Kings group CEO Peter Kerkar said: "Since C&K’s successful acquisition of Holidaybreak in 2011, the business with the strategic direction of C&K, has scaled larger heights. Over the years we have made efforts to maximise shareholder value by divesting some parts of the business."
Cox & Kings will continue operating the leisure and hotels segments of the business.
