US private equity firm KKR this week agreed to buy Dutch vacation parks firm Roompot from French private equity firm PAI Partners in a deal thought to be worth around €1 billion .
“Founded in 1965 in the region of Zeeland (the Netherlands), Roompot has progressively developed to become a leading holiday parks operator in Europe,” said KKR.
“The business directly owns and operates 33 parks in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium, and works exclusively with more than 100 third-party park operators to support their booking and distribution efforts and provide development, design and refurbishment services.
“Under PAI’s ownership, Roompot has invested significantly in upgrading and expanding its accommodations and opening new parks, developed a strong digital marketing and distribution platform, increased real estate ownership and grown revenue and EBITDA at double digit growth rates.
“The company now welcomes three million guests and 13 million overnight stays each year, generating revenues of almost EUR 400 million.”
Roompot Group CEO Jurgen van Cutsem said: “As we change to new ownership we would like to thank PAI, who have been a hugely supportive partner to our team since 2016, and welcome KKR for the next phase.
“Our focus, as always, will be providing a great service for our leisure customers and third-party providers.
“We continue to see growing demand from our guests and from our corporate partners due to the leading platform we have put in place, providing a solid foundation to scale the business, also on an international level.”
Daan Knottenbelt, partner and head of the Benelux region at KKR, said: “Roompot is already a leading player in the region with a best-in-class management team and a strong recent track record.
“We see significant further growth potential based on a very strong development pipeline, continued expansion of Roompot’s owned assets and new corporate partnerships.
“KKR is investing in Roompot through our Core Investments strategy, which is our pool of capital for longer-term investments, and we look forward to working with Jurgen and his team over the coming years.”