KKR is to acquire Roompot Group, a provider of holiday parks in Western Europe, from European private equity firm PAI Partners. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, having already received positive works council advice. Financial terms have not been disclosed.
Founded in 1965 in the region of Zeeland (the Netherlands), Roompot has progressively developed to become a leading holiday parks operator in Europe. 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 EUR400 million. PAI’s ownership of Roompot continued its strong track record of supporting the growth of consumer companies worldwide, including in the leisure sector with B&B Hotels most recently, and in the Netherlands where it is currently invested in Wessanen, a leading European healthy and sustainable foods company, and Refresco, a leading international bottler of beverages.
KKR will continue to support Roompot’s current management team with its further development into a leading pan-European operator, driven by supportive structural trends around domestic tourism. The investment continues KKR’s track record in the Netherlands with major recent investments including Upfield (formerly Unilever’s Spreads business), Exact Software (a leading provider of accounting software to SMBs) and Q-Park (a pan-European parking services provider).
Jurgen van Cutsem, CEO of Roompot Group, says: “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, says: “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.”
Joerg Metzner, Director at KKR, adds: “We have been looking for a platform to invest behind in the fragmented European holiday parks market for some time. Our support for Roompot and its management team fits perfectly with our broader investment theme in the leisure space.”
Gaëlle d’Engremont, Partner and Head of Food & Consumer at PAI Partners, says: “PAI has accompanied Roompot through an exciting transformation journey since 2016. Roompot has significantly reinforced its offer and its leadership in the Dutch holiday park sector over the past four years under the leadership of Jurgen. We are delighted that KKR will support the strong ambitions of the team to continue this successful trajectory.”
KKR is making its investment through its Core Investments strategy, which represents capital targeting longer-term opportunities. Recent European investments through this strategy include the acquisition of Exact Software in the Netherlands in 2019.
