Rutland invests in Omar Group

Kenny Wastell
20 April 2017

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Special situations investor Rutland Partners has invested in holiday lodge and park home manufacturer Omar Group.

Under the GP's tenure, the company will undertake an organic and acquisitive growth strategy. The business intends to capitalise on the market for over-50s who are looking to downsize their homes, and the growing UK holiday park market.

Recent years have seen a boom in private equity investments in the UK travel and tourism industry, with a particular focus on the holiday park sector, as unquote" recently reported.

The Omar deal is the fourth investment from Rutland's third fund, which closed on £263m in January 2015 and was 40% deployed as of January 2017, when unquote" published its In Profile article on the firm.

Company
Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Brandon, Suffolk, Omar manufactures park homes, holiday lodges and mobile homes. It operates under the brands Omar Park & Leisure Homes, Wessex Unique Lodges & Park Homes, Omar Park Development Services and Boutique Lodges, and Holidays By Omar.

The company produces more than 1,000 units per year and has additional operations in Hull. It generated a turnover of £31.4m in the year ending in May 2016, according to publicly available documents, with operating profit of £4m.

People
Rutland Partners – David Wardrop (partner); Michael Reynolds (investment director); Matthew Hamilton-Allen (investment manager); Sarah Hollyhead (investment executive); Nick Morrill (managing partner).
Omar Group – Dean Westmoreland (CEO).

Advisers
Equity – KPMG, Alex Hartley (corporate finance); Taylor Wessing, Edward Waldron, Jonny Bethell, Catherine Williams, Suzy Penney (legal); CIL, Sebastian Chambers, Liam McGuinness (commercial due diligence); PwC, Ben Smith, David Chell (tax); Arthur J Gallagher, George Minoprio (insurance due diligence).
Company – Duff & Phelps, Dafydd Evans, Ken Goldsbrough, Greg Forde (corporate finance, debt advisory); Freeths, Karl Jansen, Leanne Fryer, Mallory Green (legal); Mishcon de Reya, Simon Sale (legal); KPMG, Glynn Bellamy (financial due diligence); Hobson Tax Consultants, Darren Hobson (tax); Roland Berger, Anand Raghavan (commercial due diligence).