Brookfield has put UK vacation resort Heart Parcs up on the market, in a deal that can take a look at traders’ willingness to wager on an economic system hit by excessive inflation and rising rates of interest.

The Canadian non-public fairness group is looking for between £4bn and £5bn for Heart Parcs, in line with individuals aware of the matter, after analyzing an exit from the funding in current months.

The choice to go forward with the sale marks a daring transfer for Brookfield because the UK faces falling property values and better rates of interest. However a sale may probably internet a windfall for Brookfield, which acquired the resort group from Blackstone for about £2.4bn in 2015. 

Brookfield has appointed funding bankers who’ve been sounding out potential consumers previously week, the individuals stated.

Brookfield and Heart Parcs declined to remark.

Heart Parcs operates six vacation villages within the UK and Eire, providing points of interest equivalent to water parks and forest playgrounds. Heart Parcs’ 5 UK websites had been independently valued at £4.1bn in April, based mostly on the worth of the actual property alone. 

The enterprise is taken into account comparatively resilient to the UK financial downturn as extra travellers select home locations as a substitute of abroad holidays in leaner instances.

The possible sale additionally underscores the resilience of tourism and lodge companies, which have been favoured by traders in current months following a sturdy restoration from the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The volumes of lodge offers struck in Europe elevated to €4.3bn within the first quarter, in line with actual property advisers Cushman & Wakefield. It was one of many solely property sectors to see extra deal quantity than in the identical months for 2022, as dealmaking throughout the actual property sector slumped. 

Brookfield has invested in Heart Parcs for the reason that acquisition, spending £100mn on tech upgrades alone. The corporate hosts greater than 2mn visitors a yr with 98 per cent occupancy, in line with Brookfield.