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Blackstone Nears $1.1 Billion Sale of Center Parcs Resorts

Blackstone Nears $1.1 Billion Sale of Center Parcs Resorts

(Bloomberg) -- Blackstone Group LP is in exclusive talks to sell a portfolio of Center Parcs Europe holiday resorts to German real-estate company Aroundtown SA, according to people with knowledge of the talks.

Aroundtown has agreed to pay about 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) for the seven properties, which are operated by Pierre & Vacances SA, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are private. Eastdil Secured LLC is advising on the deal, the people said.

A spokesman for Aroundtown wasn’t immediately able to comment. Representatives of Blackstone and Eastdil declined to comment. Aroundtown gained as much as 1.6% in Wednesday trading in Frankfurt.

Aroundtown has a pipeline of hotel and office acquisitions totaling about 1.5 billion euros, of which about 1 billion euros will likely be signed this quarter and completed before the end of the year, it said in a trading update on Monday.

Blackstone bought the resorts in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany for about 630 million euros in 2006 from Pierre & Vacances, which also owns and operates other Center Parcs sites in continental Europe. The New York-based investment giant committed to invest about 200 million euros upgrading the properties earlier this year when the leases were extended. Blackstone also previously owned Center Parcs U.K., a separate company, which it sold to Brookfield Asset Management Inc.

Private equity investors have been pouring into European holiday parks that have traditionally been family owned, cutting costs and improving revenues by adding amenities and appealing to a wider audience. Brookfield bought Center Parcs U.K. for about 2.4 billion pounds ($3 billion) in 2015. Canadian private equity firm Onex Corp. agreed to pay about 1.4 billion pounds for U.K. caravan park operator Parkdean Resorts a year later.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jack Sidders in London at jsidders@bloomberg.net;Gillian Tan in New York at gtan129@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shelley Robinson at ssmith118@bloomberg.net, Patrick Henry, Marion Dakers

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