Key Facts
Initial Investment: 04/04/2016
Sector: Consumer & Leisure
Buyout Fund III
Status: Realised
Investment Highlights
- Completed the acquisition of a further six parks with Palatine investing an additional £4m to part fund the acquisitions.
- Supported significant investment in holiday park facilities to enhance customer experience.
- In house call centre operation established which resulted in holiday hire revenues more than trebling.
- Invested in a centralised head office function to help improve efficiencies and further enhance team performance.
- Supported management in various ESG initiatives including Green Tourism Scheme and Team Verdant HR strategy, which has seen the business gain recognition in The Sunday Times Best Places to Work programme.
- Broadened board composition to include the operations director and marketing director.
- Exchanged on sale of the business to Pears Capital Partners in September 2021 generating a 3.7x return
Partnership motivation.
The business had enormous growth potential due to the growing trend towards ‘staycations’, coupled with increased demand for holiday accommodation in premium locations. We were also impressed by the expertise and experience of the management team. Our strategy was to scale the group through supporting management’s defined buy and build strategy, expanding and upgrading the existing parks and growing holiday hire revenues.
We have enjoyed great support from Palatine over the last five years. The team’s expertise in buy and build and its forward-thinking approach to ESG strategy, has helped us to scale profitably and consolidate our status as an operator of choice at a time of great opportunity in the UK holiday market. The management team now look forward to continuing this growth strategy with the support of our new investors at Pears Partnership Capital.
CEO – Verdant Leisure
