Center Parcs owner agrees financing deal
US private equity house Blackstone has embarked on a £1bn refinancing programme of Center Parcs, the forest village holiday business it owns.
The restructure of the company’s debt will end speculation that the firm had been considering putting the business up for sale. It will also provide Center Parks with enough capital to build a fifth UK location, according to newspaper reports at the weekend.
Blackstone secured the deal with a small syndicate of banks, thought to include Royal Bank of Scotland, the Sunday Telegraph reported yesterday.
The private equity house’s European chief Joe Baratta is overseeing the deal, which will include a restructuring of Center Parcs’ balance sheet and the alteration of some of its repayment terms.
The holiday operator held debts of about £294m at the end of April last year.
As part of the refinancing, the company’s existing corporate structure will be altered to see the creation of two specially created ownership vehicles. The new structure will give Center Parcs chief Martin Dalby sufficient capital to build the firm’s fifth site near Woburn, Bedfordshire.