Liberation Group owner sells Park Holidays UK for £362m: Holiday park operator Park Holidays UK has been sold by The Liberation Group owner Caledonia Investments to Tiger Bidco, a special purpose vehicle incorporated by Intermediate Capital Group (ICG), for £362m. Caledonia will receive £197m in cash, net of fees, for the sale of its 81.5% fully diluted equity stake. The net proceeds will be held on deposit for future investment. The net proceeds represent a premium of 47% to Caledonia’s carrying value of Park Holidays at 30 September 2016 of £134m and are in addition to £41m of cumulative distributions the Caledonia group has received from Park Holidays since it acquired the business in 2013. Overall, Caledonia will have realised a net internal rate of return of 44% and a money multiple of 2.9 times from its investment in Park Holidays. Park Holidays was originally acquired by Caledonia in November 2013 for £172m. At that time, Caledonia backed Park Holidays’ incumbent senior management team of Jeff Sills (chief executive), Al Loch (chief financial officer), Tony Clish (commercial director) and Adrian Fawcett (non-executive chairman), all of whom will remain in place following the sale to ICG. Under Caledonia’s ownership, Park Holidays accelerated capital investment across the estate driving further revenue growth in addition to increasing the number of parks it operates from 23 to 26. These actions supported strong growth in profitability with Ebitda expected to be up 79% from £20.4m (for the year ended 31 December 2012) to an estimated £36.5m (for the year ending 31 December 2016). Caledonia head of unquoted investments Duncan Johnson said: “Caledonia’s unquoted strategy is to invest in leading businesses which combine an ability to grow profits whilst also paying a healthy annual cash return to shareholders. Park Holidays has delivered in every respect and we congratulate Jeff Sills and his team, as well as the company’s chairman, Adrian Fawcett, for their stewardship of the business over the past three years. We wish them and the business every success in the future.” Sills added: “We were attracted to Caledonia because of its unique investment model. Caledonia has proved to have been a very supportive financial partner over the past three years, which has enabled us both to acquire new sites and improve the quality of our existing estate. We look forward to continuing to deliver good returns for our new investor.” Caledonia chief executive Will Wyatt said: “Park Holidays has been an outstanding investment for Caledonia and we are delighted with the progress it has made since we became involved in 2013. It exemplifies our ability to find and attract capable management teams and I am delighted that the outcome has been so successful for both us and Jeff Sills and his colleagues.”

Revolution Bars Group appoints former Tragus marketing director as NED: Revolution Bars Group, the operator of the Revolution and Revolución de Cuba brands has appointed former Tragus marketing director Jemima Bird as a non-executive director. Bird is a marketer with experience spanning 20 years in many of the UK’s leading high street brands. She founded Jbird Consulting in 2013 and is currently working with the Co-operative Group as customer director, which she rejoined in January this year, on an interim basis, having worked there previously in various branding and marketing roles from 1996 to 2008. Between 2013 and 2015 she was commercial and operations director at Moss Bros and from 2010 to 2013 marketing director at Tragus, the restaurant operator. She was marketing director at Musgrave Retail Partners (Budgens and Londis) from 2010 to 2012. Revolution Bars Group chairman Keith Edelman said: “We are delighted that Jemima is joining Revolution. Branding, marketing and digital communication is central to our proposition and Jemima’s experience in large, fast moving consumer companies will be of particular benefit in this critical facet of our business. The board welcomes Jemima and looks forward to working with her.” Bird added: “Joining Revolution at this time is exciting. Revolution has a customer profile which lives its life through social engagement. Marketing through the proliferation of channels is ever more important to the success of consumer facing leisure retail businesses. I will endeavour to bring my experience to the benefit of the business and the board.”

Holiday park operator goes into administration: Independently owned holiday and residential park operator Lifestyle Living UK has gone into administration. Jason Baker, joint administrator and partner at FRP Advisory, said Lifestyle Living UK continued to trade as a going concern and was operating as normal while a buyer was sought for the business and its assets. “Our priority is to maintain the day-to-day operations of the caravan parks to ensure that customers and users continue to enjoy the products and facilities offered by Lifestyle Living,” he told The Times. Baker said there had already had expressions of interest in Lifestyle Living. The company, which is said to have suffered a squeeze in income, owns and operates holiday and residential parks in Suffolk, Norfolk and Cumbria, with purpose-built and individually designed lodges and static caravan units. It employs about 50 staff. It owns Carlton Manor holiday park, Carlton Colville near Lowestoft and Carlton Meres country park near Saxmundham, in Suffolk; Redhill Park, Watton, and Haveringland Hall country park, Cawston, near Norwich, in Norfolk; and Lakeland View, Nethertown, near Egremont, and Silecroft holiday park, Silecroft, near Whicham, in Cumbria.