The staycation frenzy gripping Britain’s leisure industry is spurring another of the country’s biggest holiday park operators to consider putting itself up for sale.
Sky News has learnt that Park Holidays, which is owned by the investment firm Intermediate Capital Group (ICG), has appointed bankers to oversee a strategic review that industry sources expect to trigger an auction later this year.
The company is the biggest operator of its type in the south of England, with 33 sites under its ownership, including at Dawlish in Devon, Felixstowe in Suffolk and Birchington in Kent.
It offers caravan and lodge holidays, touring and camping, and holiday home ownership.
HSBC and Royal Bank of Canada have been appointed to handle the review.
Insiders said on Friday that if it does get sold, Park Holidays would command a price “well in excess” of the £362m that ICG paid to buy the company from Caledonia Investments in 2017.
Confusion over the government’s travel advice to countries on its ‘amber list’ of foreign destinations is likely to spur a glut of domestic holidays by Britons this year.
Earlier this month, Sky News revealed that CVC Capital Partners, the private equity giant, was in talks about a takeover of Away Resorts – the owner of well-known holiday parks such as Whitecliff Bay on the Isle of Wight and Sandy Balls in the New Forest.
Bourne Leisure, the owner of Butlin’s and Haven, was sold in February to Blackstone, another major buyout firm.
CVC is in talks about a takeover of Away Resorts Pic: AR
A number of other players in the industry, including Verdant Leisure, are up for sale as operators seek to exploit booming demand.
A spokeswoman for ICG declined to comment on Friday.