Caledonia Investments Plc acquires Park Holidays UK

Caledonia Investments plc ("Caledonia") has announced that it has acquired Park Holidays UK ("Park Holidays"), a UK holiday park operator that owns and operates 21 freehold and two leasehold caravan parks in the South of England.

Park Holidays has been run by its current management team of Jeff Sills (Chief Executive), Al Loch (Chief Financial Officer) and Tony Clish (Sales and Marketing Director) since January 2006, when they acquired the business from its founders through a management buy-in backed by funds managed by Graphite Capital ("Graphite"). Since then, Park Holidays has grown to become the UK's fourth largest caravan holiday park operator. For the financial year to 31 December 2012, Park Holidays generated EBITDA of GBP20.4m and profit before tax of GBP2.5m, with gross assets of GBP256.5m.

The transaction values the business at GBP172 million, which has been funded by GBP88 million of equity from Caledonia and GBP90 million of bank debt. RBS, HSBC, Lloyds Bank, Barclays Bank and Santander have provided the acquisition debt facilities. In addition, a GBP10 million acquisition and capital expenditure facility has been arranged to assist the future expansion of the business.

Commenting on the acquisition, Duncan Johnson, Caledonia's Head of Unquoted Investments, said:

"We are delighted to be supporting Jeff Sills and his team in the next stage of Park Holiday's development. The new capital structure will ensure Park Holidays can continue to enhance its parks around the south of England, as well as allow Jeff and his team to build the business through targeted acquisitions."

Jeff Sills, Chief Executive Officer of Park Holidays, commented:

"Caledonia is acquiring a leading asset in the UK holidays' market with excellent growth prospects. Their investment model is ideally suited to ensure we can continue to enhance and expand our parks and I look forward to a long and rewarding relationship with them. I would also like to thank Graphite who have been a great backer of Park Holidays and have provided the support to allow us to develop the business to where it is today."

Will Wyatt, Chief Executive of Caledonia, stated:

"Caledonia's unquoted strategy is to invest in leading businesses which combine an ability to grow profits with the capability to pay a healthy annual cash return to shareholders. Park Holiday's business model, as one of the leading businesses in its sector, fits these criteria well.

Our investment is further proof of the attraction of Caledonia's unique investment model to a wide number of management teams and businesses. The investment is a welcome addition to our portfolio of unquoted businesses and will assist in driving long term capital and income growth for our shareholders."