Close Brothers Private Equity (CBPE) today announces the sale of Park Resorts, the caravan park operator, to ABN Amro Capital for a total consideration of £165 million.

The transaction will see Park Resorts combined with GB Holiday Parks, owned by ABN Amro, to create the UK’s second largest caravan park groups, with 35 parks. The Park Resorts’ management team, led by Chief Executive David Vaughan, will take on the management of the combined group.

The sale marks CBPE’s most successful investment, with the firm achieving a return close to eight times its original equity investment of £12.25 million and an IRR of over 80%. CBPE will reinvest £10 million of the proceeds for a minority equity stake in the combined business.

Park Resorts was created when CBPE purchased 12 coastal caravan parks from Bourne Leisure in May 2001 in partnership with a management team of David Vaughan, Alan Castledine and Robert Sewell for a total consideration of £46 million. The company has significantly redeveloped the existing caravan parks, and acquired four additional parks over the last 3 years taking the total under ownership to 16 parks.

Prior to the transaction, Park Resorts had a total of 8,500 pitches, and in the current year to March 2005 it will generate EBITDA of approximately £16 million on a turnover in excess of £70 million. The combined group, which will be headquartered in Hemel Hampstead, will comprise approximately 17,500 caravan pitches.

Caravanning has become one of the most popular holiday options in the UK, with an estimated 17 million trips occurring in the country each year. The British camping and caravanning market is currently worth £2 billion and is forecast to grow at 4%-5% a year (source: Camping and Caravanning, Motel 2003).

CBPE partner Sean Dinnen, a non-executive director on the Park Resorts board, commented:

“Park Resorts has been an outstanding investment for CBPE. At the time of the original deal we were establishing a brand new business with the vision to become the leading operator of medium sized caravan parks. The management have done a fantastic job and we are delighted to be retaining a stake in the enlarged business that they will run.”

David Vaughan said “the management team have been delighted with the relationship with CBPE who backed us as a new business when there was little interest in the sector. We remain excited about the prospect for the enlarged business”.

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For further information:

Close Brothers Private Equity 020 7065 1100
Sean Dinnen 020 7065 1133
John Fisher 020 7065 1134

Merlin 020 7653 6620
Vanessa Maydon 07802 961 902
Lachlan Johnston 07989 304 356

Advisers

Bankers: N M Rothschild & Son Ltd
Avi Goldberg
Lawyers: Richards Butler
Philip Taylor
Accountants: KPMG
Roger Widdowson


Notes to editors

About CBPE

• Close Brothers Private Equity was established in 1984 and invests in transactions with a value of between £10 million to £100 million.

• CBPE has funds under management of €1 billion.

• It focuses on investment in the following sectors:

- Business support services
- Specialist manufacturing
- Leisure and tourism
- Transport and logistics

• www.cbpel.com