Yorkshire Bank backs Dunham Leisure buy-in with RJD Partners

Yorkshire Bank Corporate & Structured Finance is backing private equity house RJD Partners and the former management team of Southlakeland Parks in the buy-in of Dunham Leisure Limited.

Dunham, which has been acquired from the Dunham family, operates two five-star holiday parks in East Lothian, Scotland; Pease Bay and Thurston Manor. The deal is the first acquisition in a planned buy and build in the sector. Graham Hodgson, who will take over as Chief Executive, and Bev Dixon, who becomes Operations Director, have a strong track record in what is seen as a highly fragmented industry with consolidation opportunities.

Yorkshire Bank Corporate & Structured Finance is providing over £8.5 million in senior debt and other facilities to support the deal.
 
The premium Pease Bay and Thurston Manor holiday parks have extensive leisure facilities.  Pease is located on the seafront within a cove near Cockburnspath and has over 300 pitches.

Thurston Manor is located on a 175-acre site at the foot of the Lammermuir Hills, south of Dunbar and was once a country estate. The site has over 600 pitches.

Graham Hodgson and Bev Dixon previously managed Southlakeland Parks, which operates nine holiday parks in Cumbria and Lancashire. The business, which was backed by LGV Capital, was sold to private investors for £125 million in 2007.

The management team will be joined by Andrew Wall as Finance Director, who previously led KPMG’s corporate finance team in the Midlands for eight years and was most recently a partner with HMT Corporate Finance.

The new team will take over from Andrew and Simon Dunham whose father Dennis, the main shareholder, founded the business in 1991 with the acquisition of Thurston Manor.

Guy Taylor, Director with Yorkshire Bank Corporate & Structured Finance in Manchester led the deal with Associate Director Jon Hall.

Guy Taylor commented: “We’re backing a very experienced and highly regarded management team with the backing of a strong private equity house in RJD Partners. The buy and build strategy the team have in place will take advantage of good opportunities in this highly fragmented sector. We look forward to helping RJD and management build the group.”

RJD Partners’ Investment Director Frank Bulman added: “Having tracked the sector for some time, RJD is delighted to back Graham Hodgson, Andrew Wall and Bev Dixon as an experienced management team with an impressive track record in this sector. The Dunham parks are well established but nevertheless offer significant development potential and represent an excellent platform for further park acquisition opportunities.”