£100m refinancing for holiday park operator Siblu

French holiday park operator Siblu Holdings has attracted a £100 million refinancing package to help fund new site acquisitions.

More than £40 million will be made available to support the acquisition programme as the company aims to at least double its size from the eight parks currently owned.

The parks owned and operated by Siblu, formerly Haven Europe, include more than 5,000 holiday homes, 4,000 of which are privately owned. More than 110,000 people travel with Siblu every year, to the eight parks and 16 Siblu Selection third-party parks in France, Spain and Italy.

Siblu was subject to a managment buy-out from former owner Bourne Leisure two years ago.

The company sells mobile homes to families from France and the UK who then pay an annual service fee to cover their costs of staying on site. Owners can let their accommodation to holidaymakers through Siblu, which also operates a small number of units.

Hermes Private Equity has acquired a 29.5% stake in the company as part of the in the £100 million transaction. KPMG Corporate Finance sourced the funding and advised the management team. Deloitte and Linklaters advised Hermes Private Equity with debt facilities provided by Barclays Leveraged Finance.

Management have reinvested 100% of their value and Hermes and Barclays together have made a commitment of more than £40 million to support the management team in an acquisition programme, a company statement said.

Siblu CEO Leslie Hurst said the company aimed to at least double the number of parks it owns in France where he said there were a number of opportunities.

“The French market for holiday home ownership has grown rapidly over the last decade but there are still many opportunities to build the business,” he said.

“We have acquisitions in the pipeline and we look forward to working with Hermes to build on our leading position in the French market.”

Justin Ward of Hermes commented: “The French market is the largest in Europe but has few significant operators and remains immature compared to the UK. This presents an exciting opportunity for Siblu and we believe the management team has the track record to be the leading consolidator in the market.”

Michael McDonagh of KPMG Corporate Finance added: “Siblu is leading the evolution of the holiday parc market in France towards the ownership model and with Hermes’ and Barclay’s support is very well placed to drive consolidation”.

Report by Phil Davies