PAI buys European Camping Group from Carlyle et al.

A source close to the situation confirmed the deal to Unquote.

French publication L'Agefi reported that the deal gives the company an enterprise value in the EUR 700m-730m range, corresponding to an EBITDA multiple of 10x.

The deal will mark 15 years since Montefiore first invested in the business and ends a seven-year holding period for Carlyle.

PAI is currently deploying equity via funds including PAI Europe VII, which held a final close in March 2018 on EUR 5bn. The fund deploys equity tickets of EUR 150m-400m, backing European businesses with enterprise values of EUR 300m-1.5bn.

PAI's previous investments in the travel and leisure sector include France-based B&B Hotels, which the GP acquired in a EUR 790m buyout in 2016 and sold to the merchant banking division of Goldman Sachs at a EUR 1.9bn valuation in 2019.

Carlyle Group and PAI Partners declined to comment. Montefiore Investment had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.

Although the travel and leisure sector has been hit hard by coronavirus lockdowns and travel restrictions in Europe over the past year and a half, the sector has seen 22 buyout deals with an aggregate value of EUR 6.7bn so far in 2021, versus 23 deals with an aggregate value of EUR 3.9bn in 2020, according to Unquote Data.

Q2 2020, which was the quarter in which dealflow was most significantly affected by the pandemic across Europe, saw just four deals in the sector, whereas eight such deals were announced in the same period in 2021. This compares with 11 buyout deals in the sector recorded in Q2 2019, indicating that dealflow in the sector is steadily returning. However, the sector has a long way to go to equal the 44 buyouts totalling EUR 18.9bn recorded in 2019, which was a five-year high point for aggregate value invested in the sector.

Recent travel and leisure sector deals include Palatine's sale of holiday parks operator Verdant Leisure in a management buy-back deal, which saw the GP score returns of 3.7x, as reported. However, dealflow has returned most strongly in the restaurants and bars sub-sector, which has made up 41% of deals completed in the travel and leisure sector in 2021 so far. Travel and tourism deals have comprised almost 14% of dealfow, while 23% of buyouts have been for businesses in the hotels sub-sector, according to Unquote Data.

By exit routes, dealflow also shows signs of recovery. One third of the 27 exits completed in the travel and leisure sector in 2020 were via receivership. Although government support programmes continue to support many Covid-impacted businesses in Europe, the travel and leisure sector has not seen any private equity exits to insolvency to date in 2021, according to Unquote Data.

Previous funding
Montefiore acquired a majority stake in European Camping Group (then known as Homair) in January 2006. BPI France, Blackstone and Unexo participated in the deal as co-investors.

The business listed on the French Alternext stock exchange in August 2007, generating proceeds of EUR 32m and a 2x money multiple for Montefiore.

Montefiore bought an 18.44% stake in the company through holding company Illiade in May 2009, deploying equity via Montefiore Investment II

In May 2012, Naxicap bought a minority stake in the company, acquiring a 40.8% stake in holding company Illiade, which owned a 67% stake in the business at the time. Montefiore retained a minority stake in Illiade. According to Unquote Data, Montefiore had by then returned 3x the money invested in the business via Montefiore Investment I, as well as 8x the equity drawn from Montefiore Investment II.

In June 2014, Homair acquired Eurocamp. Carlyle subsequently acquired a majority stake in the business, with Montefiore reinvesting. The company's market capitalisation was EUR 70m at the time. Carlyle invested via Carlyle Europe Partners IV, a 2013-vehicle that held a final close in July 2015 on EUR 3.73bn. The fund was fully deployed as of June 2019, according to Unquote Data.

Homair rebranded as European Camping Group in 2017. OTPP acquired a 40% stake in the business in April 2018, with Carlyle and Montefiore retaining a majority stake. The company had tripled in size via acquisitions between 2014 and 2018 and posted 2017 revenues of EUR 230m, Unquote reported at the time.

Company
Founded in 1989 and headquartered in Aix-en-Provence, European Camping Group operates campsites for mobile home holidays in Europe, including in France, Spain, Italy, the UK and Croatia. It operates the brands Homair, Palmiers Océan, Eurocamp, Al Fresco, Roan, Go4camp and Camping Vision, the majority of which were acquired under Montefiore, Carlyle and OTPP's ownership. The company posted net revenues of EUR 276m in 2019, according to its website.

People
European Camping Group – Alain Calmé (chairman).
PAI Partners – Laurent Rivoire, Frédéric Stévenin (managing partners); Gaëlle d’Engremont (partner, head of food and consumer).
Carlyle Group – Jonathan Zafrani (managing director).
Montefiore Investment – Eric Bismuth (founder, CEO); Daniel Elalouf (managing partner).
Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan – Jo Taylor (president, CEO).

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• Topics
• Buyouts
• Exits
• France
• Consumer
• France
• PAI Partners
• Carlyle Group
• Ontario Teachers' Private Capital
• Montefiore Investment
• Secondary buyout