RJD completes £22m buyout of leading training provider, Babington

Second investment from RJD Fund III RJD Partners (“RJD”), the UK Private Equity investor, has invested in the £22m secondary buyout of Babington Group, one of the UK’s leading providers of apprenticeships and skills training.

This is the second investment from RJD’s third buyout fund, following the recent investment in Burgess Marine, and closely follows RJD’s sale of upmarket holiday park operator Verdant Leisure.

Based in Derby, Babington provides apprenticeships and skills training to learners and employers from its ten training centres across the UK. Babington specialises in providing training in the fields of accounting, finance, and business administration, together with high growth subject areas such as digital media and marketing.

RJD has taken a majority stake in the business and has invested alongside Babington’s management team, led by Carole Carson. Carole is a highly respected figure in the apprenticeship and employability training sector, with over 26 years’ experience working across organisations such as BT, TFL, the Shaw Trust and Intraining Group.

RJD will work alongside Babington’s ambitious management team to grow the business further organically and realise their exciting plans to expand their presence in the growing skills and training market.

The investment in Babington builds on RJD’s track record in the sphere of training and talent management, following successful investments in businesses such as Teaching Personnel.