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Private equity giant Brookfield has paid itself a £392M dividend following stellar performance at its Center Parcs UK holiday village business as a £4B sale of the company progresses.
Results for the year to April 2023 highlight why Brookfield has put a high price on Center Parcs and is selling it for much more than the £2.5B it paid for the company in 2015. The £392M dividend eclipses the £283M Brookfield received in 2018 before the coronavirus pandemic upended the hospitality sector.
Center Parcs produced UK earnings before income, tax, depreciation and amortisation of £275M, 12% ahead of the previous year. Revenue of £594M across its five holiday villages was up from £504M the previous year.
Its Irish village, the most recent to open, reports financial results separately.
Center Parcs said 60% of its rooms for the 2024 financial year had already been sold, in line with sales for 2023 at the same point in the year.
Eastdil Secured, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Barclays are advising Brookfield on the sale of Center Parcs, and React News reported there are three parties vying to buy the business.
They are Universities Superannuation Scheme, the pension fund for UK university staff; a joint venture between Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC and private equity firm KSL; and French infrastructure fund Antin. Swedish private equity firm EQT may also bid, React reported.
Blackstone, CVC and Aermont are among the other parties that ran the rule over Center Parcs but decided not to bid.
USS has invested in the UK hospitality sector before, buying the ground rent of the Butlin's holiday business from Blackstone. GIC and KSL are also major hospitality investors around the globe.
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