UK / France: European Camping Group [ECG], a tour operator specialised in the mobile home holiday market, has completed the €1 billion acquisition of French campsite brand Vacanceselect Group.
The deal sees ECG triple its campsite portfolio to include 500 sites across France, Spain, Italy, Croatia and the Netherlands, making it the largest provider of outdoor accommodation in Europe.
ECG’s portfolio of brands now include Eurocamp, Camping Vision, Homair, Roan, Canvas Holidays [UK] and Vacanceselect, while its owned campsite portfolio has been grown by 100 high-end parks with Tohapi joining its existing Marvilla Parks brand.
Both groups have received approval by the French competition authorities for the transaction that was originally announced last July. The newly enhanced holiday business is now targeting achieving a turnover of €700 million this year.
ECG is owned by US-based private equity firm PAI Partners, which acquired the business from Carlyle four years ago. PAI Partners has also previously invested in Dutch vacation parks company Roompot.
ECG president Alain Calmé said: “With the integration of Vacanceselect, I am delighted that European Camping Group is now the leading provider of outdoor accommodation across Europe. By uniting the talented and passionate professionals from across both of these businesses, we will be able to ensure our wide range of parks and accommodation set in a variety of locations from beachside to mountainside continue to enchant, entertain and delight families from across all of Europe.
“But above all, this allows us to share best practices to improve the quality, accessibility and sustainability of our offer,” he added.
Eurocamp managing director Darren Marsh said: “This deal provides Eurocamp customers with a truly unrivalled choice of holiday parks across the most popular travel hotspots in Europe. We can’t wait to introduce this new holiday park portfolio to our guests in the coming months.”
The news marks the latest major transaction in the camping segment in France so far this year. Earlier this month, campsite franchise Les Vacances Camping Paradis secured an undisclosed investment to fund its expansion across France, and prior to that, camping holiday booking platform Campings.com raised €27 million in funding and acquired its competitor, Bungalow Booker.
