Center Parcs mainland European resorts set for €1bn sale

A large element of the mainland European arm of family holiday resort company Center Parcs - which is set to open in Ireland at the end of this month - looks set to be sold.

Private equity giant Blackstone has, reportedly, reached agreement on the sale with Luxembourg-based property investment company Aroundtown.

It is understood Aroundtown has agreed to pay approximately €1bn for seven Center Parcs resorts across Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. Blackstone acquired them, for a reported €630m, in 2006 from French tourism services business Pierre et Vacances, which operates a number of Center Parcs resorts on the continent.

The transaction will have no impact on Ireland, where Center Parcs opens its first Irish resort, on a 400-acre forest site in Co Longford at the end of July.

The Irish resort is owned, along with Center Parcs UK, by Canadian company Brookfield Asset Management.

Brookfield bought the UK and Irish Center Parcs divisions from Blackstone in 2015, around the time the Longford site was bought from State-owned forestry company Coillte.

Aroundtown has a pipeline of hotel and office acquisitions totaling about €1.5bn, of which about €1bn will likely be signed this quarter and completed before the end of the year, it said in a trading update.

Private equity investors have been pouring into European holiday parks that have traditionally been family owned, cutting costs and improving revenues by adding amenities and appealing to a wider audience.

As well as Brookfield buying Center Parcs UK for about £2.4bn, rival Canadian private equity firm Onex agreed to pay about £1.4bn for UK caravan park operator Parkdean Resorts a year later.

-additional reporting Bloomberg.