Key Travel

Sector: Business Services

Status: Realised

Fund: II

Deal type: Management buyout

Investment date: May 2018

Key Travel is an international travel management company dedicated to the non-profit sector and serves charities or companies in the humanitarian, faith and academic sectors. It operates in 54 countries and has more than 1,900 clients.

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“We chose Elysian Capital to be our partner as they share our values on building great companies while retaining a true sense of partnership, support and integrity with the management team and the underlying principles and mission of the business."

“Elysian were able to respond quickly and effectively, closing the deal in five weeks and so allowing our pre-emptive approach to succeed.”

Saad Hammad

Chief executive, Key Travel

Investment rationale

We bought the company from its previous private equity owner in a five-week accelerated off-market deal.

The company had underpinned its success in the not-for-profit sector by building specialist skills in managing complex travel, becoming a trusted partner of suppliers, and investment in IT systems that facilitate customer service.

The market outlook for these sectors was favourable given the growth in funding for humanitarian aid development and the internationalisation of research, teaching and student enrolment.

Key Travel provided travel and risk management services to customers such as WWF and ActionAid, along with 40% of the top 24 research-based universities in the UK, including Oxford, Cambridge and King’s College London.

Creating value

We worked with the management to expand its global business across new geographies. and eventually double in size.

In November 2018, Key Travel bought Raptim Humanitarian Travel, doubling Key Travel’s scale in the US and adding a significant, complementary platform in continental Europe.

Key Travel’s business was severely challenged during the COVID period and Elysian worked with the management to reshape the business, provide additional working capital and reassure customers that Key would continue to deliver great service despite the disruption.

Key Travel was sold to Trip.com in August 2025.

Under our ownership, Key Travel:

Acquired and integrated Raptim to add scale to European and US trade.
Increased productivity via material improvements to the company’s workflow and systems, including significant improvements to customer relationship management and online booking.
Introduced new products such as offsetting, carbon-free rooms and vaccination booking.
Enabled global agency coverage 24 hours a day, seven days a week.