RJD backs Verdant Leisure’s first bolt on acquisition

Verdant Leisure (“Verdant”), owner and operator of two well established holiday parks in South East Scotland, has completed its first acquisition, adding Viewfield Manor, a holiday park located a few miles inland from the Ayrshire Coast and c.20 miles from Glasgow, to its portfolio.

RJD Partners ("RJD") one of the leading UK lower middle market private equity investors, first invested in Verdant in September 2010, backing a highly experienced leisure sector management team in a management buy-in of Dunham Leisure Limited, the then owners of the Pease Bay and Thurston Manor parks.

The Verdant team comprising Graham Hodgson as Chief Executive, Andrew Wall as Finance Director and Bev Dixon as Operations Director, recognised that these two parks offered an attractive platform from which to implement a buy and build strategy to create a larger regional group with significant scale.

Verdant’s first bolt-on acquisition, Viewfield Manor, is a 298 static pitch site offering significant development potential. The vendor was a private family vehicle.

RJD has provided further equity funding to finance the acquisition of Viewfield, alongside an additional debt tranche from Yorkshire Bank.

Frank Bulman, Partner, RJD Partners, comments: "Having backed the Verdant Leisure team in a platform deal, we are delighted to see them start to implement their buy and build strategy by making their first acquisition. The existing Verdant parks have performed strongly since the buy-in. Viewfield Manor is an excellent strategic fit with the business and the team have a well established reputation for adding significant value to the assets they acquire."

Graham Hodgson, CEO of Verdant, says: "We’ve been highly selective in reviewing the many acquisition opportunities that have come our way since the buy-in last year and we singled out Viewfield Manor as a well located park offering clear operational improvement and growth opportunities. Whilst it is complementary to the existing Verdant parks in that there is a significant cross over in catchment area, Viewfield Manor also expands the breadth of our market offering and we are excited about its addition to our portfolio.”

Verdant Leisure was advised by KPMG (financial due diligence); Eversheds (legal advice); CBRE (property due diligence) and JLT (insurance).

Richard Caston, Frank Bulman and Richard Court worked on the deal for RJD.

The contents of this news release are intended for information purposes only. RJD Partners Limited does not provide investment advice and we strongly recommend that before making any decision to invest or engage in any investment activity, you should obtain proper professional advice. See our full terms & conditions.  RJD Partners Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority in the conduct of investment business in the UK. RJD Partners Limited is registered in England and Wales No. 04245768. Registered office: 8/9 Well Court, London EC4M 9DN.