RJD Partners has closed its first fund since spinning out of parent Royal London last year and completed its second deal, a £24 million (€36 million, $49 million) secondary management buyout of specialist teacher recruitment business Teaching Personnel.
Teaching Personnel provides teachers, teaching assistants and nursery assistants to schools throughout the UK. RJD bought the business from Barclays Private Equity, which took a significant stake in 2001.
The deal is the second investment from RJD Private Equity Fund II, which has closed on £180 million, above its £150 million target. The fund made its first investment when it bought specialist fleet outsourcing business Senturion in June.
The firm’s previous fund, which closed in 2003 with £75 million of capital commitments, has made a total of eight investments, including merchant services operator Cardsave, live music venue operator Academy Music Group, and waterway boating holiday operator European Boating Holidays.
David MacLellan at RJD told PEO: “The first fund has realised two investments so far. The first realisation delivered a return of 2.6 times while the second a return of two times. It is soon to make a third realisation – which will generate a return bigger than both these.”
The second fund attracted commitments from all the limited partners in Fund I, plus about eight new institutional LPs and about 12 new private investors.
RJD Partners was known as Royal London Private Equity until it bought itself out of its parent, Royal London Mutual Insurance Society, in October last year. It now has more than £250 million under management.
