An American private equity giant is reported to be making moves to snap up North East holiday park operator Parkdean Resorts in a £2bn takeover deal.
Parkdean Resorts has been rumoured to have been up for sale since last October, amid moves by owners Canadian investment group Onex to make a tidy profit on the £1.35bn it paid for the Newcastle business back in 2016.
Parkdean Resorts, which has around 750 employees at its Gosforth head office, was formed in 2015 by the merger of Parkdean Holidays and Park Resorts, selling to Onex a year later. It now operates 66 parks across the UK.
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Since news of a potential sale first emerged a number of businesses have been linked to a shortlist of buyers, including Bourne Leisure – which owns Haven holiday parks, Butlins and Warner Leisure hotels – which was said to be working with US private equity owners Blackstone on a bid.
Now it has emerged that US-based private equity giant Apollo Global Management is seeking to gain a foothold in the booming UK staycation market with a £2bn takeover bid – and city sources are reportedly claiming Bourne Leisure Group has been eliminated from the auction.
The potential sale talks come at a time of investment within the Parkdean Resorts portfolio, which has parks in coastal locations as well as areas of natural beauty and has benefitted from a surge in demand for holidays in the UK.
The auction, which is being handled by Morgan Stanley, follows a number of deals in the leisure sector, the most recent being a £182m deal for Park Leisure agreed by US firm Sun Communities.
That deal follows Sun Communities’ acquisition of Park Holidays for nearly £1bn, while CVC Capital Partners snapped up rival Away Resorts and Butlin’s is now also on the market. Last week, Derbyshire-based holiday operator Forest Holidays was also sold to Cheshire-based Sykes Holiday Cottages.
The deal comes at a time of investment at the Newcastle-based company, which is making a record £140m spend across its parks this year. The investment will be made on new accommodation, new and upgraded activities and facilities and installing park-wide Wi-Fi to further improve customers’ experience in the continuing staycation boom.
With advance bookings at record levels the company – which has Church Point, in Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, Cresswell Towers at Druridge Bay and Sandy Bay in Ashington, Crimdon Dene, near Hartlepool, and Whitley Bay in the region – is also launching a recruitment drive for 7,000 seasonal jobs across sales, food and beverage, and housekeeping.
Parkdean Resorts declined to comment.
