A handful of UK pension funds are vying to buy a stake in short-break holiday company Center Parcs from owner Brookfield, the Canadian asset management firm.
According to reports in Sky News, the Greater Manchester Pension Fund, Local Pension Partnership and Lothian Pension Scheme are among those in discussions with Brookfield to buy between 15% and 20% of the business.
The Canadian asset management firm is in the process of finalising a recapitalisation of Center Parcs, which operates six holiday villages in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
The business will be valued at around £4.5 billion as part of the process that is expected to conclude during the first quarter of next year, the publication adds.
Brookfield is expected to remain the majority owner after the refinancing has been completed. The process is reportedly being managed by bankers at Bank of America, Barclays and Eastdil.
City sources cited by Sky News also suggest that the Universities Superannuation Scheme, had been in talks to buy Brookfield's stake, but it is unclear whether it is still in the running.
Brookfield, Local Pension Partnership, Lothian Pension Scheme and Center Parcs all declined to comment, while GMPF could not be reached for comment.
Brookfield acquired Center Parcs from funds managed by Blackstone’s private equity and real estate businesses for a reported £2.4 billion in 2015. The short-stay holiday business was owned by Deutsche Bank Capital Partners before that.
There are six Center Parcs sites in the UK and Ireland. They include camps in Cumbria, Nottinghamshire, Wiltshire, Suffolk, Bedfordshire and Ballymahon. Earlier this month planning was granted for a seventh site in the Scottish Borders, with the development costing £450 million.
Center Parcs launched in the UK during the late 1980s and was founded by a Dutch businessman Piet Derksen in the Netherlands in 1968.