How and why Billing Aquadrome called the administrators in
Royale Group, the owner of holiday parks and a provider of bungalow living for the over 45s, says it has placed Billing Aquadrome in administration “as part of a recapitalisation” of the company.
As TheBusinessDesk.com exclusively revealed last Thursday (June 6), Billing Aquadrome, the 235-acre leisure park in Northamptonshire, has entered administration
Royale Group says the move was in response to an aim of installing 1,000 new bungalows across the UK, starting later this year.
As part of this, Billing Aquadrome is in administration and while all staff continue to be employed and continue to operate the business as usual, the involvement of RoyaleLife and RoyaleResorts will be “limited”, the firm told us.
Oliver Haunch and Daniel Smith of Grant Thornton have named as joint administrators.
Robert Bull, founder and executive chairman of RoyaleGroup, said: “More than 200 legal entities comprise the RoyaleGroup and these remain unaffected by the situation at Billing Aquadrome. I therefore want to reassure our funders, employees, suppliers, owners, residents and visitors that it is very much business as usual.”
How Billing Aquadrome fell into administration
Daniel Smith and Oliver Haunch of Grant Thornton were appointed as joint administrators of Billing Aquadrome Limited on 6 July and of Royale Resorts 1 Limited, Royale Resorts 2 Limited, Time GB Property Group Limited and Billing Assets Limitedon 7 July 2023. Billing Aquadrome Limited operates the holiday and residential facility at the Billing Aquadrome and Cogenhoe Mill Holiday Park, Mill Lane, Cogenhoe, Northampton.
The subsidiaries of Royale Resorts 2 Limited and Time GB Property Group Limited, being Hayling Island Holiday Park Limited and Golden Leas Holiday Park Limited respectively, operate the Hayling Island Holiday Park and Golden Leas Holiday Park , will remain unaffected.
Ultimately, in light of the leverage and liquidity challenges faced by the wider group, the secured creditor says it was left with no choice but to appoint administrators in order to secure the long-term future of the sites and facilitate ongoing investment from the companies’ lenders. This appointment follows similar action taken by Intermediate Capital Group to place other companies (Royale Parks Limited, Time GB Properties Ltd and Waterside Country Park Limited) that form part of the Royale Life Group into administration.
Haunch said: “I can confirm that the resorts will continue to trade on a ‘business as usual’ basis. The appointment will enable these successful and cash generative sites to benefit from further investment to enhance the existing facilities and expand the service offering in the short and medium term. I will be working closely with the Companies’ lenders to secure the long-term future of the parks under new ownership.”
