Telford driver training firm TTC Group in management buyout

The Hadley Park-headquartered company, founded by well-known businesspeople Graham and Jenny Wynn in 2000, has been acquired by managing director Jim Kirkwood backed by Palatine Private Equity.

The value of the deal for the company, which was named Business of the Year at the 2016 Shropshire Star Excellence In Business Awards, has not been revealed.

Mr and Mrs Wynn will remain linked to the business, while handing over its day-to-day running. Mr Wynn is chairman of the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership and both have other business interests locally.

"This is about securing the right investment partner, stability and security for the staff, and delivering a real growth opportunity through diversification via a merger and acquisition strategy," Mr Wynn said.

"We are able to step back from the day-to-day operation but are still on hand to support the senior management team, will still be going to meet contracts, going to various trade events.

"We are not going to suddenly go and live on a Caribbean island, we love the county and we want to live here and put more back into it.

"I have every confidence that Jim is the right person to take over the day-to-day management."

Having won its first police contract in 2006 TTC Group now works with 10 forces around the UK, offering speed awareness and other training services.

It employs 123 staff and trains 330,000 people a year at 200 training venues nationally.

The takeover is now expected to drive further growth in the group, which turned over £27 million last year.

Mr Kirkwood said: "The existing TTC business provides an excellent platform for growth and investment.

"With road safety at its heart and our quality of delivery second to none, our ambition to innovate and succeed is naturally taking us into complementary and adjacent markets where new technologies bring a wealth of opportunity.

"My colleagues and I are very excited about our future with Palatine and the opportunity that it presents.”

Palatine founded its Midlands office 18 months ago, and the TTC deal is the second investment it has made since then. The transaction was introduced by EY Corporate Finance in Birmingham.

Richard Thomas, head of Midlands at Palatine, added: “We look forward to supporting TTC in continuing to deliver high-quality training to its existing customers, in addition to, building upon its position in the corporate driver training market.

"Having already made a number of acquisitions, TTC’s buy and build strategy will be an important element of the on-going growth plan."

Neil Meredith, corporate finance partner at EY, said: "Bringing Jim into TTC will see the business continue its ethos of offering the best service across the public sector, as well as expanding into the corporate training market. It has been a pleasure working with them both and I wish them all the best for the future.”