Brookfield New Owner of Center Parcs UK

This past June a first announcement about the investment firm Blackstone Group selling Center Parcs UK was made public. Now the transaction has been completed with Brookfield Property Partners L.P., a commercial property company, as new owner of five family holiday destinations across the UK: Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire; Elveden Forest, Suffolk; Longleat Forest, Wiltshire; Whinfell Forest, Cumbria and the most recently introduced facility (cf. EAP, issue 02/2015) Woburn Forest, Bedfordshire. The transaction was completed for an undisclosed sum. “Having bought Center Parcs in 2006 and invested in its growth, it has been an excellent investment for us. We are sure that it will go on to even greater success under excellent new ownership. The management and employees of Center Parcs are outstanding and will take the business onto a new chapter in its story,” Gerry Murphy, Chairman of Blackstone Group, says. Center Parcs UK is a separate entity to Center Parcs Europe. Covering a space of around 400 acres (around 1.6 square kilometer) each, the five UK-based facilities are altogether expected to welcome around two million guests this year. (eap)