Long Harbour, the real estate and asset backed investment manager, has completed the structuring and acquisition of commercial ground leases for two holiday parks in the Netherlands on behalf of the firm’s flagship European vehicle, the Long Harbour European Secured Income Fund I (LHESIF I).
Financial details were not disclosed.
The two commercial freeholds are the first holiday parks in the Netherlands to be bifurcated into a freehold and leasehold utilising a ground lease structure.
Acquired from European holiday park operator Landal GreenParks, the two holiday parks offer over 1,000 holiday homes in total. While Long Harbour will own the freeholds of the central guest facilities, Landal will retain the leasehold and continue to operate the assets through its experienced on-site and central management teams.
Andy Wheeler, investment manager for the Long Harbour European Secured Income Fund, said: 'These latest acquisitions are Long Harbour’s first in the Netherlands and some of the largest assets we have acquired on behalf of LHESIF I to date.
'The bifurcation of the holiday parks into a new freehold and leasehold structure will provide stable, long-term ground-rent income for the fund.
'We are pleased to have partnered with Landal, who are a leader in the European holiday park sector and have excellent asset management capabilities, with the two parks already having benefited from recent significant investment. We are actively targeting further deals in the holiday park sector, where owner operators are increasingly looking to recapitalise their assets.'
Long Harbour has now deployed €100 mln into the European ground lease market in just over a year, in Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands. The LHESIF I, which launched in November 2019, has a pipeline of further deals across Europe. This is its fourth deal.
The Landal Het Vennenbos holiday park is located in De Brabantse Kempen, an area of natural beauty and close to the Belgian border. The 53-hectare park offers leading central facilities and 523 holiday cottages, which have benefited from significant investment and refurbishment over the last three years.
The second asset, Landal De Lommerbergen, is a 35-hectare holiday park with 502 cottages situated close to the Dutch-German border.
Founded in The Netherlands in 1954, Landal GreenParks is one of Europe’s leading holiday park operators, with over 90 locations throughout Europe across eight countries.
Richard Silva, fund manager for the Long Harbour European Secured Income Fund, said: 'It’s clear from the strong engagement that we have seen from owner-occupiers looking to explore a freehold and leasehold structure since launching the fund that the market in Europe has huge potential.
'For investors and particularly for pension funds, the super secure, inflation-linked long income that ground rents provide is highly attractive, and given the size and potential of this dynamic market we see significant further capital moving into the sector.
'LHESIF I is an open-ended vehicle, so there is no limit on capital, and we are actively seeking additional capital partners to bring forward the deals in our pipeline.'
CBRE advised Landal GreenParks.
Tom King, executive director, hospitality investment properties at CBRE said: 'This deal marks the first of its kind in Continental Europe. The remarkable performance of holiday parks throughout 2020 and 2021 demonstrates their ability to operate profitably and safely with social distancing measures in place.
'In turn, we anticipate holiday parks being a key accommodation of choice moving forward with the ever-growing demand from the domestic markets.'
