Leading golf travel company, Golfbreaks.com, has raised £2.8m from its innovative three-year golfing bond, far in excess of the initial £2m target.
The Windsor-based company, which has a turnover of almost £35m and employs 140 staff, offered the bond to its 500,000-strong customer base, with the option of investing between £2,000 and £100,000 for a market-beating annual return in either cash or golf holidays.
“The response from our customers to the golfing bond has been truly remarkable and we are delighted that so many took the opportunity to invest in the future success of the company,” said Chief Executive, Andrew Stanley. “With the bond being massively oversubscribed we’re now in a very strong position to accelerate our expansion plans.
“That means more investment in technology, growing our market-leading tee-time booking service and cracking the American market. Golf travel is worth billions globally so we know that the business is out there. Our job now is to go out and get it.”
Bondholders will receive either a gross annual return of 7.5% in cash, or a 10% gross annual return payable in loyalty Breakpoints that can be spent on golf breaks or holidays at any of the company’s 2,000 worldwide venues – including this week’s Open host, Royal Liverpool – or even on trips to iconic tournaments such as the Ryder Cup or the Masters.
Golfbreaks.com was started by Andrew Stanley in 1998 with the objective of saving golfers time and money by organising their golf trips away. In 2013 more than 500,000 golfers used the company’s services to book golf breaks and tee-times across the UK, Europe and Worldwide.