Parkdean Resorts

Parkdean Resorts is a holiday park operator in the United Kingdom. It was formed in November 2015 through the merger of Parkdean Holidays and Park Resorts. As of 2020 it operates 67 holiday parks across England, Scotland, and Wales,[3] and is the largest holiday park operator in the UK.[4][5]

Parkdean Resorts
TypePrivate Limited Company
IndustryLeisure / Holiday
PredecessorParkdean Holidays
Park Resorts
FoundedNovember 2015
HeadquartersNewcastle upon Tyne
Number of locations
67 holiday parks in the UK
Key people
Steve Richards (CEO)[1]
ProductsSelf catering holiday parks
OwnerOnex Corporation
Number of employees
Over 6,000 in peak season[2]
Websiteparkdeanresorts.co.uk

John Waterworth was CEO of Parkdean Holidays and Parkdean Resorts for nearly 20 years before retiring in June 2019. Steve Richards is currently the CEO.

History

Parkdean Holidays

Parkdean Holidays was formed in November 1999 via a management buyout of Trecco Bay Holiday Park in Porthcawl, South Wales.[6][7][8] In March 2006, Alchemy Partners purchased an 80% stake in the company, with the remaining 20% split between Parkdean Holidays' management.[9] In July 2007 Parkdean Holidays bought Weststar Holidays, which owned four holiday parks in South West England.[10][11][12] The company offered a range of accommodation, including caravan holiday homes, lodges, cottages, and apartments; it also had caravan and camping pitches at many locations.[13]

Park Resorts

Park Resorts was created in May 2001 when Close Brothers Private Equity (CBPE), in partnership with a management-buyout team led by David Vaughan, purchased 12 Haven Holidays freehold caravan parks from Bourne Leisure.[14][15][16][17] This created the UK's second largest caravan park group, and Vaughan, former managing director of Rank Leisure and Rank Entertainment, became the company's CEO.[14][18] Holiday parks were mainly located at or near to the seaside or lakeside, chiefly on the south and east coasts of England, but also extending to Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Wight, and the Lake District.[19] Income was generated from rentals of static holiday caravans and touring pitches, alongside caravan and holiday home sales and on-site retail.[19]

In late December 2004, Park Resorts was sold by its private-equity holder CBPE to ABN Amro Private Equity, and merged with GB Holiday Parks. [20][21][22] In March 2007, ABN Amro sold the company to GI Partners for £440 million in a highly leveraged buyout.[23][24] In the same year, the three founding directors left the business and Martin Grant joined from Roadchef as CEO.[25][23] In December 2008, in increasingly difficult financial conditions, GI Partners reinstated the original three directors, with David Vaughan returning as CEO.[26][27] In September 2009, former CEO Martin Grant, Colin Bramhall and Richard Hunt won a case of unfair dismissal against GI Partners and were awarded £45,000 in compensation,[27] but the tribunal rejected the men's allegation that GI Partners had lied to Park Resorts' lenders.[28]

In October 2009, a restructuring of Park Resorts' £325 million debt facilities was agreed upon by its creditor banks; this also included a new £25 million debt facility to fund a programme investing in the company's parks over the next five years,[29][30] and the banks took a 5% stake in the company.[31] In July 2013 Electra Partners became the new majority shareholder and they appointed a new CEO, David Boden, who had held senior board level positions at The Rank Group and Hippodrome Casinos Ltd.[32][33] Park Resorts' founder and CEO David Vaughan became the company's chairman.[32] The new lead shareholders also refinanced Park Resorts' debt package, with Electra Partners gaining a 54% stake in the company; the debt restructuring freed up significant capital to invest in the company's parks.[32][34] In August 2014, in partnership with Park Resorts, Electra Partners acquired the company Eastern Parks, owner of Southview Holiday Park in Skegness and Manor Park Holiday Park in Hunstanton, from Bluebird Partners.[35][36] Park Resorts had been managing both parks since 2010.[35] In November 2014, Alan Parker, chairman of Mothercare and former CEO of Whitbread, was appointed chairman of Park Resorts.[37][38]

Merge

In 2015, Parkdean Holidays merged with Park Resorts to create Parkdean Resorts.[39][40] The new company continued to operate under its two brands, "Parkdean Holidays" and "Park Resorts", with dual head offices in Newcastle and Hemel Hempstead, throughout 2016 before launching a new website and rebranding all the parks as Parkdean Resorts.[41][42][39]

In December 2016, Canadian private equity company Onex Corporation purchased Parkdean Resorts from Epiris (formerly Electra Partners)[43] and Alchemy Partners for £1.35 billion.[44] The sale was completed in March 2017, and Onex Partners and certain co-investors made an equity investment of $627 million in the newly acquired company.[45]

In June 2019 John Waterworth, who had been the CEO of Parkdean Holidays and then Parkdean Resorts for nearly 20 years, retired. Steve Richards, then CEO of Casual Dining Group, became CEO of Parkdean Resorts.[46]

Coronavirus response

Parkdean Resorts closed its parks to the public on the 23rd March 2020 due to COVID-19, and announced plans to re-open to the public on 6 July.[47] During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, Parkdean was criticized for not shutting down its travel parks during a time when the government was advising citizens to avoid non-essential travel. Parkdean replied that the caravans are standalone and separate from each other with 70% privately owned, saying there is "no instruction or logic to evicting people who are enjoying the fresh air in their own space."[48] On the 20th of March 2020, Parkdean shut down all restaurants, pools, and other facilities in response to a nationwide Government order[49] but remained open for people to stay, despite many other parks in the industry closing.[50][51][52]

Welsh Health Minister Vaughan Gething objected to the parks staying open in Wales, saying "There's clear advice for people to avoid unnecessary travel and going to your caravan on the weekend doesn't strike me as necessary travel.".[53] People in multiple locations concerned that the parks staying open would place pressure on sparsely populated areas that are already struggling to obtain food supplies[54] and that it would further spread the virus from metropolitan areas to remote rural areas that were poorly equipped to deal with it.[55] There was concern that an influx of seasonal population to sparsely populated rural holiday locations had the potential to cripple their local health services at a time when they were very vulnerable.[56]

References
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  2. "Onex to Acquire Parkdean Resorts". Marketwired.com. 16 December 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
  3. "Parkdean Resorts". ParkdeanResorts.co.uk. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
  4. Trewhela, Lee (20 February 2020). "UK's largest holiday park operator Parkdean Resorts to spend £6.6million in Cornwall". Cornwall Live. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
  5. Martin, Ben (1 September 2015). "Park Resorts merges with rival to create caravan parks giant". The Telegraph. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
  6. Venes, Robert (25 April 2006). "Alchemy to buy Parkdean for £135m". Infrastructure Investor. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
  7. Davies, Phil (6 October 2015). "John Waterworth to head up combined Parkdean/Park Resorts business". Travel Weekly. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
  8. "Parkdean set to expand further". WalesOnline. 24 September 2003. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
  9. "Alchemy turns Parkdean purchase into a reality". The Journal. 23 March 2006. Archived from the original on 18 October 2016. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
  10. "History". ParkdeanLtd.com. Archived from the original on 15 May 2015.
  11. Harrington, Ben (19 July 2007). "Dragons' Den star in caravan fortune". The Telegraph. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
  12. "Parkdean invests as losses narrow". Insider Media. 10 September 2012. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
  13. "About Us". Parkdean Holidays. Archived from the original on 7 September 2015.
  14. "Bourne caravan parks sold". The Telegraph. 14 May 2001. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  15. Davies, Phil (5 May 2015). "Upbeat Park Resorts seeks acquisitions". Travel Weekly. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  16. "Recruitment". Park-Resorts.com. Archived from the original on 11 September 2007.
  17. Smith, Philip (23 May 2001). "Firms advise on two £50m MBOs". Accountancy Age. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  18. "Bourne Leisure sells 12 caravan parks". Attractions Management. 14 May 2001. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
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  21. Osborne, Alistair (24 December 2004). "Caravan managers roll out with £18m cash". The Telegraph. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
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  23. Marlow, Ben; Goodman, Matthew (2 November 2008). "Caravan parks group Park Resorts pitches up for deal". The Times. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  24. Wallop, Harry (23 March 2007). "Caravans prove a five-star investment". The Telegraph. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
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  28. "Park Resorts". FastTrack.co.uk. Sunday Times Top Track 250. 2009. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  29. Moulds, Josephine (7 October 2009). "Park Resorts reaches debt deal". The Telegraph. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  30. "GI Partners portfolio company Park Resorts announces £325m debt restructuring". AltAssets. 7 October 2009. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  31. "Research Report 2012" (PDF). Sunday Times Top Track 250. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  32. "Electra Partners announces the refinancing of Park Resorts". Epiris.co.uk. 24 July 2013. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  33. Everett, Steve (25 July 2013). "Park Resorts announces new lead shareholders and CEO". Yorkshire Business Daily. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
  34. Walsh, Tom (26 July 2013). "Park Resorts announces £60m investment and major refinancing deal". Caravan Times. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  35. "Electra Partners announces the acquisition of two further holiday parks". Epiris.co.uk. 4 August 2014. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  36. Goodman, Matthew (3 August 2014). "Electra expands holiday empire". The Times. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  37. Bow, Michael Bow (5 November 2014). "Former Whitbread boss Parker takes the chair at Park Resorts". City A.M. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  38. "Electra Partners' Park Resorts appoints Alan Parker as Non-executive Chairman". Epiris.co.uk. 5 November 2014. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  39. Kollewe, Julia (1 September 2015). "Park Resorts merges with rival to create Britain's biggest holiday park firm". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
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  44. McGoogan, Cara (17 December 2016). "Caravan giant Parkdean sold to Canadian Onex for £1.35bn". The Telegraph. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  45. "Onex Completes Acquisition of Parkdean Resorts". GlobeNewswire. 3 March 2017. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  46. Manning, Jonathon (4 March 2019). "Parkdean Resorts CEO John Waterworth to retire in summer". Chronicle Live. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
  47. "Parkdean Resorts holidays open: When will Parkdean open again?". Express. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  48. "Cornwall holiday parks and cottages slammed for staying open". Cornwall Live. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  49. "Coronavirus". Parkdean Resorts. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  50. "Haven closes all holiday parks including seven in Wales". South Wales Argus. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  51. "Three Pembrokeshire holiday parks close to safeguard visitors and staff". Western Telegraph. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  52. "All the places councils in Wales are closing because of the coronavirus pandemic". Wales Online. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  53. "Coronavirus: Action urged as travel advice ignored". BBC News. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  54. "Cornwall holiday parks and cottages slammed for staying open". Devon Live. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  55. "Parkdean in firing line as it's 'business as usual' at its Embo holiday resort despite coronavirus". Northern Times. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
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