ICG to exit Park Holidays in GBP 900m trade sale – report

Harriet Matthews
15 November 2021

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Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) is to exit Park Holidays to Sun Communities in a GBP 900m trade sale, according to a report from Sky News.

The exit is to follow a structured process, which saw bids from PAI Partners, Starwood Capital and USS, previous Sky News coverage noted.

Park Holidays first came under private equity ownership in 2006, when Graphite Capital acquired the business in a GBP 130m management buy-in. Caledonia Investments acquired the company in a GBP 172m SBO in 2013, which saw Graphite net returns of 2.3x money.

ICG acquired Park Holidays from Caledonia in a GBP 362m deal in December 2016. The purchase equated to an entry multiple of around 10x the company's GBP 36.5m EBITDA, according to Unquote Data.

According to Unquote sister publication Debtwire, Barclays, Crédit Agricole, HSBC, RBS, Santander, Lloyds Bank and SMBC provided a debt facility of GBP 165m to support the 2016 SBO.

ICG invested in Park Holidays via ICG Europe Fund VI, which held a final close in July 2015 on EUR 3bn, surpassing its EUR 2.5bn target. The fund's previous exits include door and gate manufacturer Stella Group, which the GP sold to PAI in 2018 in a deal that valued the company at more than EUR 600m.

Founded in 1985 and formerly known as Cinque Ports Leisure, Park Holidays operates holiday parks for family caravan holidays in the UK. The company is headquartered in Bexhill and operates 42 UK holiday parks, also offering holiday home ownership opportunities and touring holidays. The company posted revenues of GBP 145m and EBITDA of GBP 40.6m in 2020, slightly down on 2019's turnover of GBP 157m and EBITDA of GBP 46.8m, according to its latest publicly available accounts.

ICG had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.

Although hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic, the travel and tourism sector has seen increased deal activity following a boom in staycation tourism and the gradual lifting of coronavirus travel restrictions. According to preliminary figures from Unquote Data, the sector has seen five buyouts with an aggregate value of EUR 2bn in 2021 to date. Adding in the hotels sub-sector to account for businesses providing accommodation, there have been 12 deals totalling almost EUR 6.1bn in 2021, a recovery from the six deals with an aggregate value of EUR 1.2bn recorded in 2020.

Recent deal activity in the sector includes PAI's acquisition of European Camping Group (ECG) from previous investors Carlyle, Montefiore Investment and Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan in September 2021. Meanwhile, Palatine sold holiday park operator Verdant Leisure in a management buy-back supported by Pears Partnership Capital, generating returns of 3.7x money. In March 2021, holiday park operator and accommodation provider Sandaya was sold by Apax to Infravia Capital, reportedly valuing the business at EUR 430m.

However, there is still uncertainty ahead for parts of the sector, brought about by public market uncertainty and potential inflation, as well as speculation about potential coronavirus lockdowns in Europe. ECI-backed holiday accommodation booking platform Travel Chapter announced that it was to postpone its IPO plans earlier in November, citing "market volatility", as reported.

Unquote spoke to Gaëlle d'Engremont, partner and head of food & consumer at PAI Partners, about the prospects for the travel and leisure sector for the latest edition of the Unquote Private Equity Podcast. Click here to listen to the episode.