£182m deal agreed for holiday parks operator
York-headquartered Park Leisure 2000, a premium holiday parks operator, has been sold for an enterprise value of £182m.
Midlothian Capital Partners (MCP) and a consortium of investors agreed the sale of Park Leisure 2000 to Sun Communities, Inc.
Founded in 1998, Park Leisure operates 11 five-star parks all located in coastal areas or areas of outstanding natural beauty across the UK. It has approximately 2,900 pitches across its portfolio.
Having acquired the company in 2017, MCP has overseen a period of operational enhancements as well as growth, with EBITDA having more than doubled during its tenure.
Andrew Bracey of MCP and chairman of Park Leisure, said: “Park Leisure is a great business. We invested significant time and resources to help grow and develop the company over the past five years.
“We are pleased to hand stewardship to Sun and Park Holidays – we are confident they will support the company in its next phase of growth.
“We wish the business and new owners every success as they embark on the next exciting chapter for Park Leisure.”
Richard Bates, CEO of Park Leisure, said: “As one of the leading holiday operators in the UK we are excited by the opportunity to grow our holiday park footprint even further, continue to enhance our customer experience and to be able to offer more park landscapes and facilities.”
The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals as well as completion of Sun’s acquisition of Park Holidays and is expected to close in H2 2022.
Ares was sole financier to MCP and Park Leisure. Advisers to MCP include: Rothschild & Co (financial), Slaughter and May (legal) and EY (accounting and tax).
The deal comes the growth in the domestic holidays market has led to a deluge of corporate deals, with Park Leisure’s new owners having already paid £950m for Park Holidays.
Two businesses involved in the high profile acquisitions of the Yorkshire supermarkets Asda and Morrisons, are now also reported to be entering the fray for holiday camp chain Butlins.
TDR Capital, who supported the Issa brother’s £6.8bn deal for Asda and is now a principal shareholder in the supermarket has submitted an offer to Bourne Lesiure which is owned by PE firm Blackstone and operates the Haven and Warner Leisure Hotels brands as well as Butlins.
Another bid for the holiday camp business has been submitted by Fortress Investment Group, the group which narrowly missed out on acquiring Morrisons when the auction was decided by just 1p.
