Center Parcs Picks Banks For £2.5bn Listing

The owner of Center Parcs, one of the UK's biggest privately owned leisure companies, has hired investment banks to prepare a £2.5bn stock market listing.

Sky News has learnt that Blackstone (NYSE: BX - news) , the company's owner, picked Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley (Xetra: 885836 - news) on Monday to act as global co-ordinators of an initial public offering, which could take place as soon as this year.

Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) and Deutsche Bank (LSE: 0H7D.L - news) have also been appointed to work on the listing.

The appointment of the banks comes three months after Blackstone 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.

Blackstone is understood to have rejected that offer on the grounds that it undervalued Center Parcs, although as part of what is known in the City as a dual-track process, it is likely to sound out sovereign wealth funds and other buyout firms alongside its planning for an IPO.

Sky News revealed last year that Rothschild, the investment bank, had been hired by Blackstone to undertake a review of strategic options for the business, which it has owned since 2006.

BC and CPP may continue to work together on a revised takeover bid for the leisure group, which recently reported that its newest site in Woburn Forest was trading strongly.

The fifth village to open in the UK, it recorded a 99% occupancy rate during the three months since its launch, underlining the popularity of Center Parcs resorts and its growth potential.

Company insiders say Blackstone's period of ownership has enabled the creation of hundreds of jobs across the holiday village operator's locations.

Center Parcs recently kicked off discussions with tourism authorities in Ireland (Other OTC: IRLD - news) about constructing a resort there.

Profits at Center Parcs jumped by 10% to £20.6m in the year to April on sales up 4% to £314.6m.

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

Among the options on which Rothschild is advising Blackstone and Center Parcs' board is a further refinancing that would enable shareholders to land a big payday ahead of a sale or stock market listing.

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

Blackstone, BAML and Morgan Stanley declined to comment on Tuesday.