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Center Parcs is on sale for £5 billion – but will it find a buyer?

It’s expected to be the biggest property deal of 2023

Chiara Wilkinson
Written by
Chiara Wilkinson
Deputy Editor, UK
Longleat Forest Center Parcs
Photograph: Andrew Harker / Shutterstock.com
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The holiday village chain Center Parcs has just hit the market – with a hefty price tag of around £5 billion. If the sale goes through, it is expected to be one of the biggest property deals of 2023. Any takers?

The chain of six Center Parcs locations in the UK and Ireland is owned by Canadian private equity group Brookfield Property Partners, which paid £2.4 billion for the leisure brand in 2015.

The chain attracts millions of visitors each year, and offers activities like watersports, cycling and horse riding for families, as well as spa packages. And even though Center Parcs took a hit due to the pandemic, it reported occupancy rates of 97.3 percent at the end of last year, which is in line with pre-Covid levels.

The UK locations are Elveden Forest in Suffolk, Longleat Forest in Wiltshire, Whinfell Forest in Cumbria, Woburn Forest in Bedfordshire and Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire, which was opened as the first site back in 1987.

The news follows an announcement earlier this year that the chain was pulling out of plans to develop a new holiday village in West Sussex due to environmental concerns. 

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