PwC Corporate Finance advises Bourne Leisure on the sale of a majority stake to Blackstone
The PwC UK Corporate Finance team is pleased to announce that it has acted as principal financial advisor to Bourne Leisure Holdings Limited (“Bourne Leisure”) on the sale of a majority stake to funds managed by Blackstone Capital Partners and Blackstone Real Estate Partners.
Established in 1964, Bourne Leisure is the UK’s premier holiday and holiday home ownership group. As part of the transaction, the Harris, Cook and Allen founding families will reinvest in the company, retaining a significant stake alongside Blackstone.
Bourne Leisure is a leader in the UK domestic holiday market, employing over 16,000 team members, hosting 25,000 holiday home owners and attracting 4.5 million guests to 56 sites across the UK every year. The company operates through its three brands, Haven, Butlin’s and Warner Leisure Hotels, across 6,500 acres of some of the best leisure real estate in the UK. Haven is the largest UK caravan operator with 38 holiday parks and 2.5 million visitors a year. The company was voted the 11th Best Big Company to work for in The Sunday Times Best Companies 2020.
Blackstone is one of the world’s leading investment firms. It has $584 billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2020 which includes investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Blackstone has a proven investment track record in the wider hospitality, travel and leisure sectors, including its prior investment in Center Parcs, one of the UK’s leading holiday and short break providers, and current ownership of Merlin, which has grown to become the second largest operator of visitor attractions and theme parks globally.
“We are extremely pleased to have supported Bourne Leisure, the largest provider of holidays and holiday home ownership in the UK and an employer of over 16,000 team members in the UK, on this transaction. This is a landmark transaction for the sector and highlights the compelling opportunities and long-term potential of the UK domestic holidays market. It also further evidences our expertise within the leisure and hospitality sectors.”
The PwC Corporate Finance team advising on this transaction consisted of Rick Jones, Simon Hampton, Krushi Hindocha, Nigel Espie, Charlotte Astleford, Ishan Kalra and Celine Henriksen.
PwC also provided financial due diligence (led by Geoff Eversfield and Rob Johnston), tax due diligence (led by Kevin Morris), IT due diligence (led by Andrew Turner), SPA and completion mechanism services (led by Jeff Nye) and tax advisory services (led by Will Searle).
If you would like any further information on the transaction, please contact Rick Jones or Simon Hampton.
“We are delighted to have worked with the Bourne Leisure team on this transaction and wish them and the Blackstone team every success for the future of the business. We are proud to have been involved with a transaction that supports the recovery of a Covid-impacted industry and related local economies. In addition, this deal further builds on our strong capabilities in advising on landmark M&A transactions.”
“We look forward to partnering with Blackstone in this exciting new chapter for the company, our guests, our holiday home-owners and our team members. We have received terrific support from the PwC Corporate Finance team, who helped the board navigate and negotiate a complex transaction with one of the world's leading private equity houses. We all greatly appreciated the dedication of the team throughout in managing a smooth process and delivering a successful transaction.”
About Real Assets
Our Real Assets team combines the capability, cross-sector insight and global track record of our infrastructure and real estate professionals to help our clients act and invest with confidence.
Contact us
UK Hospitality, Sports & Leisure leader, PwC United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)7710 627834
