Center Parcs listed for sale with near £5 billion asking price
Center Parcs has been listed for sale with a near £5 billion asking price.
The Canadian private equity group that owns the holiday resorts, Brookfield, has decided to sell it after first buying it from Blackstone for about £2.4 billion back in 2015.
According to the Financial Times, Brookfield are seeking between £4 billion and £5 billion for the staycation chain.
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Center Parcs, home to family-friendly holiday breaks in the UK, will be be put up for sale in a deal that will 'test investors’ willingness to bet on an economy hit by high inflation and rising interest rates', the Financial Times reports.
Brookfield has reportedly 'appointed investment bankers' who have been 'sounding out potential buyers' over the past week.
The holiday resort chain offers currently operates six holiday villages in various locations across the UK and Ireland.
Such include the Whinfell Forest in Cumbria, Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire, Longleat Forest in Wiltshire, Elveden Forest in Suffolk, Woburn Forest in Bedfordshire and Longford Forest in Ireland.
The locations offer an array of activities and entertainment including water parks and forest playgrounds.
According to the outlet, the five UK Center Parcs sites were 'independently valued at £4.1bn in April' based on the value of the 'real estate alone'.
The outlet reports that the private equity group is hoping to cash in on the increase of domestic stays triggered by the Covid pandemic.
It reads: "The prospective sale also underscores the resilience of tourism and hotel businesses, which have been favoured by investors in recent months following a robust recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic."
Brookfield has since invested in the business after first acquiring it in 2015, spending '£100 million on tech upgrades alone'.
Center Parcs reportedly hosts over two million guests every single year with a 98 percent occupancy, according to Brookfield.
While the group suffered a loss back in 2021 after it was made to close its doors to the public and limit entry at the peak of the pandemic, it had since bounced back with a massive £66 million profit 'in the year to 21 April 2022' with sales 'more than quadrupling to £503 million', per the Guardian.
With that said, there is now another massive UK holiday park which is being called 'better than Center Parcs'.
The new resort, Bluestone National Park Resort, located in Pembrokeshire, southwest Wales, has joined the block complete with a whole bunch of activities, workshops and a spa for parents in need of a chill.
It has since been rated four out of five stars on Tripadvisor with many visitors comparing Bluestone to Center Parcs.
One wrote: "Brilliant family park resort. Even better than Center Parcs!"
Other holidaygoers, however, have remained loyal to the leisure company with one visitor posting: "We chose Bluestone as a change from Center Parcs and I’d say there are good and bad point of both but ultimately we agreed we would choose CP."
LADbible has reached out to the Center Parcs media centre for comment.
Topics: UK News, Center Parcs, Money
Rhiannon Ingle