ITC Luxury Travel CEO Jennifer Atkinson has completed a management buy-out of the company, financed by Santander Capita, while Paul Pindar – former CEO of Capita – has been appointed chair of the new parent company of ITC.

Paul Pindar spent 26 years at Capita, an international business process outsourcing and professional services company, building it into a £7.5bn (US$12.5bn, €9.4bn) FTSE 100 company.

ITC Luxury will benefit from Pindar’s experience, says Atkinson – who has been CEO for five years after joining the business ten years ago: “We are excited about this new phase for ITC. Paul brings huge amounts of experience on company development and shares our ambitions to make ITC the leading luxury holiday provider in the country. We look forward to showcasing stylish holidays, sports tours and the very best hotels with our continued focus on excellence,” Atkinson added.

Pindar will bring his wealth of knowledge to the 100 per cent British-owned company which has revenue of over £47m (US$78m, €59m). “I am delighted to be involved with ITC because the company has a high quality management team which is focused on providing an exceptional luxury travel experience at a competitive price,” said Pindar. “There are many opportunities to grow our offering in the luxury travel market and I look forward to working with the team to develop products for the benefit of our loyal customer base.”

June Foster of the original founding family of ITC retains a shareholding, alongside other members of the management team. The strategy moving forward will be to create organic growth through significant investment in people and systems together, with the targeted acquisition of travel businesses both within the luxury sector and also in other specialist sectors.

“We are delighted to be involved with Jennifer, Paul and the impressive management team at ITC and we look forward to supporting the future growth of the business,” said Kerry Rogan and Andrew Mulliner of Santander Corporate Banking.