Starwood Gatecrashes £2.5bn Center Parcs Sale

One of the world's biggest leisure investors has waded into the £2.5bn auction of Center Parcs even as the holiday resort operator progresses plans for a stock market flotation.

Sky News has learnt that US-based Starwood Capital, a massive hotel operator and real estate investor, has teamed up with CVC Capital Partners, the biggest shareholder in Formula One (F1) motor racing, to mount a takeover of Center Parcs.

The combined CVC (Taiwan OTC: 4744.TWO - news) -Starwood offer is competing against rival bids including one from Brookfield, a Canadian property group, and another involving KSL Capital, the owner of the Malmaison hotel chain.

Sources said CVC's participation is being handled by its Strategic Opportunities Fund, which has a longer term investment horizon and lower return objective than its core buyout funds.

One of the major backers of that CVC fund is the Government Investment Corporation of Singapore.

The bidders for Center Parcs are competing against a prospective flotation of the business, the case for which has been boosted by the reaction of stock markets to last week's Conservative General Election victory.

On Thursday, Center Parcs confirmed the appointment of Vagn Sorensen, a former Austrian Airlines chief executive, as its new chairman.

Late last year, Blackstone (NYSE: BX - news) rejected a joint takeover offer from BC Partners and the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) which is understood to have valued Center Parcs at about £2bn.

The company operates five villages in the UK, with booming occupancy rates underlining the popularity of Center Parcs resorts and its growth potential.

The company is run by Martin Dalby, who became chief executive in 2000.

Center Parcs had a brief and not particularly successful spell as a public company before being taken private by Blackstone in 2006.

According to the company's 2014 annual report, it made adjusted pre-tax profits of nearly £147m during the financial year, up from £140m.

Blackstone and CVC declined to comment, while Starwood could not be reached.