Netherlands: Vacation parks company Roompot has agreed to sell 30 holiday parks to Arnhem-based real estate developer and holiday park operator, Dormio Group.
The two companies reached a conditional agreement on the sale as Roompot seeks approval from the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets [ACM] to finally complete its planned acquisition of European holiday village network Landal GreenParks.
Under the conditions set out by the ACM, the package of 30 holiday parks had to be sold together as a whole. In addition, only the involved park employees of Roompot and Landal GreenParks will transfer to Dormio, and they will also retain their current terms of employment and years of service achieved prior to the acquisition.
The sale is expected to be concluded by the end of the first quarter of the year or the start of the second quarter, once the competition process with the ACM has been completed, consultations with the employee organisations have taken place, and Roompot’s purchase of Landal GreenParks has also been finalised.
Last month, Dormio Group moved into a new, larger office building in Arnhem in order to prepare for a period of accelerating growth in the years ahead. The group, which develops, sells and manages the operations of luxury holiday resorts and hotels, now employs more than 400 staff in the Netherlands and abroad.
Meanwhile, Roompot was bought out from PAI Partners by fellow private equity firm KKR for €1 billion in June 2020, towards the end of the first Covid-19 lockdowns in Europe. At the time, the company was the second largest operator of vacation parks in Europe, owning and operating 33 parks across the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, France and Germany.
Since then, the holiday park brand acquired Dutch competitor Qurios in September 2020 to further boost its portfolio, while it was first rumoured in June 2021 that Roompot was set to buy around 100 holiday parks under the Landal GreenParks name from vacation rental and holiday resorts company, Awaze.
Coincidentally, Awaze was reportedly put up for sale for up to $2.1 billion by US-based private equity firm Platinum Equity in September, although the company’s CEO, Henrik Kjellberg, was understandably coy about the potential transaction at the 2022 Vitur Summit in Malaga in October.
