Park Holidays acquires Christies Parks Ltd in Scotland

UK: Holiday park operator Park Holidays has purchased two further coastal holiday parks in Scotland to add to its portfolio.

Commercial real estate firm Colliers arranged the deal on behalf of Christies Parks Ltd to sell the pair of holiday parks to Park Holidays off a guide price of £9 million. The parks involved in the deal are located in the coastal locations of Lossiemouth and Burghead, Moray.

Christies Parks Ltd was established in 2006 when Gordon Christie reorganised the historic family business, Christies of Fochabers Ltd, which had been established by his great grandfather, Thomas Christie, in 1820. It is recognised as the third oldest family business in Scotland and started trading in caravan parks in 1974.

It was revealed in November that Christies Parks had gone on the market for the first time in November for offers of more than £9 million.

Lossiemouth Bay Caravan Park and Burghead Beach Caravan Park consist of a combined 250 caravan and lodge pitches.

Park Holidays was recently acquired by US-based real estate investment trust [REIT] Sun Communities for a reported £950 million.

Richard Moss, head of UK Parks Agency at Colliers, said: “It’s been a pleasure for me and our client to work with Park Holidays and to be able to announce this deal. Our client is an excellent operator and Park Holidays clearly saw that they would inherit a very well organised and sustainable business, in locations that fitted their brief and offering.

“It’s a truly fascinating marketplace at the moment with private equity giants, overseas investors, family offices and expanding private family businesses all jostling for position. Our role is to match the best buyer to our client’s needs whilst not impacting the trading business,” he added.

 The vendors were advised by Pinsent Masons [legal], Johnston Carmichael [financial] and Colliers.