The former owners of Butlin’s have offered Blackstone more than £300m to buy back the business.
The Harris family are believed to be keen to capitalise on the continued rise of domestic holidays, and a deal could close within a fortnight.
The Harris family was part of a trio that sold the Bourne Leisure chain, including Butlin’s, to US private equity group Blackstone for £3bn early last year. The family kept a minority stake in Bourne after the Blackstone deal.
Blackstone hired Rothschilds to launch an auction to sell the Butlin’s portion of the business early this year, and last month Universities Superannuation Scheme, the UK’s biggest private pension fund, said it was buying Butlin’s underlying real estate assets for £300m.
If the deal with the Harris family closes, Blackstone will have taken back about £600m of the £3bn it paid for the group and will have sold the Butlin’s business at a similar or slightly higher multiple than the 12 times earnings it paid for Bourne during the pandemic.
