UK holiday village chain Center Parcs has been put up for sale by its owner, the Canadian private-equity firm Brookfield.
The company is looking to raise between £4billion and £5billion from the sale, according to the Financial Times (FT).
Brookfield bought the business for about £2.4billion in 2015.
Center Parcs runs six holiday villages in the UK and Ireland which attract more than two million visitors every year.
The BBC says they are particularly popular with families as they offer a range of activities on-site, with an indoor waterpark as the central attraction and wooden cabins set in cycle-friendly forests.
The first UK location opened in 1987, at Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire. There are now also holiday villages at Elveden Forest, Longleat Forest, Whinfell Forest and Woburn Forest.
Ireland
In 2019, it opened its first site in Ireland, with Center Parcs Longford Forest close to the town of Ballymahon in County Longford.
The FT said that Brookfield had appointed investment bankers to sound out potential buyers, including other private-equity firms.
Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell, said there still appeared to be strong demand for Center Parcs holidays for now, with some wealthier holidaymakers trading down from holidays abroad.
"During the pandemic Britons rushed to snap up sought-after places, but even with cash-strapped families ditching the extra 'staycation' in favour of one holiday, it's clear by the prices and availability that there's still more-than-enough business to go around - so far," she said.
But rising mortgage costs and the difficult economic climate did raise a question over future growth, she added.
Earlier this year, Center Parcs scrapped plans to develop a new holiday village in West Sussex.
Center Parcs UK is a separate business from Center Parcs Europe, which has holiday villages in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and France. The European business is still owned by Blackstone Group which sold the UK part of the business to Brookfield in 2015.
FTSE 100
The UK's top share index, the FTSE 100, was down 12 points at 7,765 shortly after opening this morning, following yesterday's 23-point gain.
Brent crude futures were fractionally lower at $75.25 a barrel.
Companies reporting today
- Full-year results: Land Securities, Vodafone
- Half-year results: Britvic, Imperial Brands