Two of Britain’s biggest holiday park operators are to merge to create a £960 million caravanning and camping giant with a combined estate of 73 venues in locations from the Scottish Highlands to Cornwall.
Park Resorts and Parkdean Holidays will leapfrog Bourne Leisure’s Haven business to become the biggest operator by number of parks, although Haven’s 36 sites will still have slightly more caravan pitches, at about 36,000.
The deal, which is subject to clearance by the Competition and Markets Authority, is being stitched together by Electra Private Equity, the owner of Park Resorts, and Alchemy Partners, the private equity firm behind Parkdean, to cash in on strong demand among Britons for ‘staycation’ holidays.
Analysts said that there were unlikely to be any significant competition