Center Parcs put up for sale for ‘£4bn to £5bn’ ahead of summer holidays

Center Parcs has been put up for sale ahead of its busiest time of the year when families visit during the summer holidays.

More than two million people a year visit the six sites which consist of family-friendly forest cabins and attractions including indoor waterparks.

The holiday village chain has been put up for sale by its owner, the Canadian private equity firm Brookfield, which is looking to raise between £4 billion and £5 billion from the sale, according to the Financial Times - double the amount it was bought for in 2015.

The newspaper also reported that Brookfield has appointed investment bankers to sound out potential buyers including other private equity firms.

Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell, told BBC News that there still appeared to be strong demand for Center Parcs holidays for now and “more than enough business to go around”.

She said: "During the pandemic Brits rushed to snap up sought after places, but even with cash-strapped families ditching the extra ‘staycation’ in favour of one holiday, it’s clear by the prices and availability that there’s still more than enough business to go around - so far.”

The first Center Parcs opened in Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire in 1987 with villages at Elveden Forest in Suffolk, Longleat Forest in Wiltshire , Whinfell Forest in Cumbria and Woburn Forest in Bedfordshire following suit. In 2019 a site was launched in Longford Forest in Ireland.

The holiday park was forced to drop plans to build another holiday village in West Sussex in recent months after a "rigorous" environment survey found the site was not suitable.

At the end of last year Center Parcs said occupancy rates were at 97.3% and broadly in line with what they had been before the pandemic hit, while its revenue for last April to December was £426.6 million - an increase of 20% on the same period in 2021 and 18% higher than before Covid.

It comes after the firm caused outrage in 2022 when it announced it would close its UK sites for 24 hours to mark the Queen’s funeral, meaning any guests in the middle of stays would have to vacate the resorts overnight.

But in response to anger from customers, Centre Parks quickly issued a statement saying it had “reviewed” its position and would be allowing the “small number of guests” not due to depart to stay in its villages rather than having to leave and return

Center Parcs UK is a separate business from Center Parcs Europe which has holiday villages in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and France.

The European business is still owned by Blackstone Group which sold the UK  side of the business to Brookfield in 2015.