Clearwater International advises on the sale of European Camping Group to HOMAIR Group backed by Carlyle Group

Clearwater International has advised the owners of Dutch European Camping Group (ECG) on its sale to French Homair Group (HOMAIR), the European market leader of camping holidays.

In 2016, ECG will assist more than 100,000 guests when booking their camping holidays and short family vacations. The majority of holidays sold are camping under ECG’s high-end brands, Roan and Go4Camp. ECG currently owns 1,500 mobile homes and 1,000 luxury tents on various highly attractive campsites in Italy, France, Croatia and Slovenia. Also, 3rd party camping holidays are sold on the market leading online platforms www.allcamps.nl and www.go4holiday.nl, which are owned and managed by ECG.

HOMAIR’s acquisition of ECG reinforces HOMAIR’s position as the European market leader within camping and the group now manages approx. 20,000 mobile homes and tents across Europe.

The travel and leisure sector has undergone a wave of M&A activity in recent years as consolidation has been seen across a number of segments. Key examples within the camping and mobile home space have been HOMAIR’s acquisition of Al Fresco and Eurocamp, and Permira backed Vacalians’ acquisition of Canvas Holidays. We expect to see plenty of interest in the travel space over the coming months, as private equity funds continue to show interest in the sector and trade buyers look to rebalance their portfolios towards higher growth areas such as online or to seek opportunities that arise from the on-going consolidation.