Graphite sells Park Holidays to Caledonia for £172m

The sale rewarded Graphite with a 2.3x return on its investment. Caledonia stated that it would support the continued expansion of Park Holidays.

Despite Graphite's efforts to sell the business through a formal process in 2011, Caledonia secured an off-market deal by contacting and working with Park Holiday's management team directly over recent months.

Previous investment
Graphite supported the £130m buy-in management buyout (BIMBO) of Park Holidays in 2006. As part of that deal, Graphite introduced Jeff Sills as CEO.

Under Graphite's stewardship, Park Holidays acquired six new sites in the south-west of England. These included the 2007 acquisitions of Landscove and Riviera Bay Holiday Parks in Berry Head, Brixham, and the £15m purchase of Golden Sands and Peppermint holiday parks in Devon in 2008.

Debt
The transaction, which values the company at £172m, saw Caledonia supplying £88m in equity, with £90m of debt provided by RBS, HSBC, Lloyds, Barclays and Santander. A further £10m acquisition and capital expenditure facility has also been supplied to aid future expansion. 

Company
Park Holidays operates 21 freehold and two leasehold caravan parks with around 9,000 pitches in the south of England. The company sells caravans to owners and hires caravans to holiday makers. Of the pitches, 70% are owner-occupied, while 20% are hired out to holiday markers on a short-term basis.

During Graphite's investment period, Park Holidays' turnover nearly doubled to £84m and EBITDA increased by 72% to £20.4m.

The company was established in 1985 by Peter Bull and Jim Watson, under the name Cinque Ports Leisure. The business was renamed Park Holidays UK in 2007, a year after being acquired by Graphite. Park Holidays is headquartered in Coghurst, East Sussex, and employs 239 permanent staff as well as 540 temporary (779 total).

People
Duncan Johnson is head of Caledonia's unquoted investment business. Mike Innes is a senior partner at Graphite and managed the transaction alongside Simon ffitch and Simon May.

Park Holiday's management team comprises CEO Jeff Sills, CFO Al Loch and sales and marketing director Tony Clish.

Advisers
Vendor – King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin, Richard Lever, Michael Miranda (Legal).
Equity – Macfarlanes, Stephen Drewitt, Kirstie Hutchinson, Jessica Adam (Legal); KPMG, Barry Carter (Financial due diligence); Deloitte, Tim Haden (Tax); CiL, Alex Marshal (Commercial due diligence); Catalysis, Mike Hicks (Management due diligence); Wyvern Partners, Mike Barnes (Debt).
Debt – CMS Cameron McKenna, Peter Crichton (Legal).
Management - DWF, Mark Gibson (Legal). 

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• Topics
• Exits
• Buyouts
• UK / Ireland
• Consumer
• Graphite Capital
• Secondary buyout