Britain’s biggest holiday parks operator is in talks about a £600m debt refinancing months after shelving a sale in the face of a deteriorating economic outlook.
Sky News understands that Parkdean Resorts has appointed bankers at Barclays and Bank of America to work on a deal ahead of hundreds of millions of pounds falling due for repayment in March 2024 and the following year.
The attempt to pursue a refinancing follows its owners’ decision last summer to abandon an auction of the business that was expected to value it at more than £1.5bn.
The postponement of Parkdean’s sale came despite a record financial performance in 2021, as staycation-focused leisure groups enjoyed a pandemic sales bonanza.
Sources said the company was in the process of recruiting up to 11,000 to work at its 66 parks during the peak summer trading period.
Bookings for Easter and the summer of 2023 were “strong”, one said.
“Parkdean Resorts is displaying another year of real momentum with strong bookings for 2023, reflecting our self-catering value proposition which is proving to be very popular with our customers, and we are looking forward to another buoyant UK holiday season,” a spokesperson for Parkdean said in response to an enquiry from Sky News.
“Parkdean Resorts is currently exploring debt market pricing, well in advance of its senior debt facilities maturing in March 2024 and April 2025.”
The company was acquired by Onex Corporation, a Canadian investor, in late 2016 for £1.3bn.
The sector as a whole has benefited from a post-Covid bounceback in sales, prompting a string of corporate takeovers in the sector.
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