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Red Driving School gets new owner | Red Driving School gets new owner |
(10 minutes later) | |
LVG, the parent company of driving instructor business Red Driving School, has been bought just days after going into administration. | LVG, the parent company of driving instructor business Red Driving School, has been bought just days after going into administration. |
Private equity firm Kelso Place has acquired the business as a going concern and will continue to trade under the Red brand as normal. | |
The firm told the BBC it had full confidence in LVG's management and had no plans for any redundancies. | |
It said Red was profitable and had just suffered from cash-flow problems. | |
Red, established in 1992, is the UK's third-largest driving school. | |
Franchise business | |
"Red is a very strong, stable and profitable business, which experienced a short-term funding difficulty when its financing facilities were changed recently," said Philip Weston, a partner at Kelso. | |
"We have made a significant cash investment in Red in order to solve its funding problem and to ensure that it is able to continue operating successfully in the long term." | "We have made a significant cash investment in Red in order to solve its funding problem and to ensure that it is able to continue operating successfully in the long term." |
LVG employs 400 people in total across three offices, but all the Red Driving School instructors are franchisees. | LVG employs 400 people in total across three offices, but all the Red Driving School instructors are franchisees. |
It also owns two other businesses under the Red brand - Red Instructor Training and Red Fleet Training, which have been taken over by Kelso. | It also owns two other businesses under the Red brand - Red Instructor Training and Red Fleet Training, which have been taken over by Kelso. |
Red Instructor Training trains would-be driving instructors, while Red Fleet Training is employed by companies to test and improve the driving skills of their employees. | |
LVG went into administration last Thursday. | LVG went into administration last Thursday. |
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