Blackstone Seeks $1.6 Billion From Center Parcs-Backed Bonds
February 08, 2012, 7:01 PM ESTBy Esteban Duarte
Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Center Parcs Ltd., which is owned by Blackstone Group LP, plans to offer 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) of bonds secured on the U.K. holiday club’s business to refinance debt.
Center Parcs is selling 740 million pounds of class A bonds and 270 million pounds of class B notes, according to three people with knowledge of the transaction, who declined to be identified before the deal is completed.
The proceeds will refinance commercial mortgage-backed securities first issued in 2007 by CPUK Morgtage Finance Ltd., a special purpose company set up to package Center Parcs loans into bonds, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. New York- based Blackstone, the world’s largest private equity firm, bought Center Parcs in 2006.
The so-called whole-business securitization will be backed by the assets and revenue from four Center Parcs villages in Nottinghamshire, Wiltshire, Suffolk and Cumbria, said the people. In whole-business securitizations, investors get rights usually held by shareholders, such as changing management if terms of the notes are breached. In return, the borrower gets higher credit ratings, reducing interest costs.
Center Parcs’s press office didn’t respond to a phone call and e-mail for comment.
Blackstone and Center Parcs plan to meet with investors starting today in London and Edinburgh to discuss the transaction, the people said.
Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Barclays Capital, HSBC Holdings Plc and Lloyds Banking Group Plc are managing the deal.
--Editors: Andrew Reierson, Paul Armstrong
To contact the reporter on this story: Esteban Duarte in Madrid at eduarterubia@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Armstrong at parmstrong10@bloomberg.net
