Clearwater International advises Palatine on the sale of Verdant Leisure to The William Pears Group

Clearwater International has advised Palatine Private Equity (Palatine) on the sale of its stake in Verdant Leisure, the award-winning holiday park operator, to the management team backed by Pears Partnership Capital (Pears). The deal marks an exit for Palatine.

Verdant Leisure is a bespoke holiday park operator offering lodge and caravan holidays and holiday home ownership at stunning sites across Scotland and Northern England.

The sale will see Palatine exit the business with a returns multiple of 3.7x, following a highly successful strategy of acquisitions and value creation which has grown Verdant’s annual turnover by 150% since 2016. Since investing in the business in April 2016, Palatine has supported Verdant to acquire 6 additional sites, increasing its footprint to ten locations and 3,500 pitches, making it a leading operator in the UK.

Management’s value creation focus has increased both holiday home sales and the profitability of Verdant’s holiday let operations by enhancing on-site leisure facilities and investing in central management functions including a new head office and customer service contact centre.

Clearwater International are a well-established and highly active adviser in the holiday park sector. The experienced team have advised businesses on the sale, refinancing and acquisition of more than ten transactions.

Clearwater International previously advised Palatine on its MBO of Verdant Leisure in 2016.