Sykes Holiday Cottages gets new backer

Tuesday, 28 Oct, 2019 0

Sykes Holiday Cottages has been sold to international private equity firm Vitruvian in a deal worth a reported £375 million.

The agreement represents a healthy return for Livingbridge, the city investment firm that bought Sykes in 2015 for £54 million and which has overseen the company expand from a portfolio of 5,000 holiday homes to 17,500 in five years.

Vitruvian beat off several other interested parties, including Bourne Leisure and a number of private equity companies.

Sykes was founded by Clive Sykes in 1991 and is now run by Graham Donoghue, a former executive at Moneysupermarket.com.

Donoghue said: "Vitruvian are an excellent cultural fit for our business and bring with them a history of successful investments in technology and travel businesses around the world.

"Investing in our people, our service and technology platform will help us attract more holidaymakers and property owners, as well as helping us to continue our acquisition plans both in the UK and overseas."

The independent holiday cottage rental agency, based in Chester, has holiday homes in the UK, Ireland and New Zealand.

Vitruvian has its headquarters in London, with offices in Stockholm, Munich, Luxembourg, San Francisco and Shanghai.

Previous travel investments by the private equity firm include Travel Counsellors, JacTravel, Skyscanner, OAG and On The Beach.

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Lisa

Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.

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