Les Vacances Camping Paradis secures investment to fund expansion
The company has secured investment from MBO & Co, a private equity firm that invests in high-potential mid-cap companies. Les Vacances Camping Paradis is now planning to diversify its activities, accelerate its expansion across France through a number of acquisitions, and form an ambitious ESG [environmental, social and governance] roadmap for the future.
The transaction was facilitated by Paris-based investment banking firm Cambon Partners.
By the end of 2022, Les Vacances Camping Paradis had more than 90 member campsites across its offering, including campsites under direct management on behalf of municipalities and private owners, with more than 20 campsites under the management of Alpha Camping.
In addition, an online distribution platform under the ‘MisterCamp’ brand is set to be created, as well as a training organisation [CP Academy] for camping leaders.
Since launching in 2019, the group has grown rapidly to become the third largest chain of campsites in France and in 2023, it expects to achieve a turnover of €100 million for a business volume of franchised campsites across the business [up from €28 million in 2022].
The French outdoor accommodation market remains both resilient and fragmented in terms of high barriers to entry due to the scarcity of sites and regulations. This, however, enables companies such as Les Vacances Camping Paradis to develop a unique range of services and offer a complete service, including digitalisation, marketing, yield management, employee training, and environmental and social approach expertise.
Olivier Lachenaud and Frédérick Gers, co-CEOs of Les Vacances Camping Paradis, and Alpha Camping CEO Didier Bourgoin, said: “We are delighted with this operation, which marks the launch of a second phase of the company’s development. We have found high-quality interlocutors at MBO & Co who already have a real understanding of our markets and their challenges.
“All ingredients are now in place to allow us to continue developing the Camping Paradis experience that we wish to be able to offer in all areas of tourist attractiveness,” they added.
Xavier de Prévoisin, partner at MBO & Co, and Raphaël Lahaye, director at MBO & Co., said: “We were impressed by the quality of the project supported by its management and by the very rapid development of Vacances Camping Paradis. MBO & Co will thus deploy for the benefit of Vacances Camping Paradis all its know-how in terms of primary operations in companies in strong growth, and will mobilise its expertise to support it in the next phase of its development.
“This within the framework of a French market for open-air accommodation that is dynamic, changing, whose consumption patterns are changing, and where everyone must be able to access quality, local and sustainable holidays,” they added.
The glamping market is also booming and receiving investment, with Seville-based glamping startup Kampaoh also closing a €14 million round of financing last month to drive its expansion plan across Europe.
