The £4bn sale of Center Parcs is hanging in the balance after a number of prospective bidders, including the front-runners, dropped out of the race.
First-round bids were due towards the end of June, with Brookfield Property Partners, which has owned Center Parcs since 2015, taking a handful of parties through to the second stage.
However, two of the favourites – CVC, the buyout group, and Blackstone, which sold the chain of holiday villages to Brookfield eight years ago for £2.4bn – are no longer in the running, according to a source close to the process.
Aermont, the owner of Pinewood film studios, is also understood to have withdrawn from the sales process, which is being run by Bank of America, Barclays and Eastdil Secured.
Antin, an infrastructure fund, is still involved, as is GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, although it is thought that neither wants to own Center Parcs outright, preferring to find a partner.
KSL Capital Partners, the private equity firm which bought the Pig Hotels chain last year, is the other party still left in the process.
