Butlins Skyline Ltd who operate the three Butlin's holiday resorts at the English coastal towns, Bognor Regis, Minehead and Skegness. These are the last three resorts operating under the Butlin's name from the ten founded by Billy Butlin.
in north Wales The Guernsey-based fiduciary company, First Ovalap Ltd, jointly owned by the Harris, Cook and Allen families, is the largest shareholder in Bourne Leisure, representing 97% of the issued share capital and holding 43% of shares with voting rights.
History
In 1964 accountant Peter Harris, with business partnerDavid Allen, purchased Alberta caravan park in Whitstable, Kent. A few years after this acquisition John Cook joined with Harris and Allen, and in 1972 the three entrepreneurs floated the company, Leisure Caravan Parks, on the London stock exchange. The company was subsequently acquired by Rank in 1975 for £20m. Meanwhile, Harris, Cook and Allen started over again with a new set of parks which they then expanded in October 2000 by buying The Rank Group’s holiday business. This purchase included the Haven caravan sites, three Butlins holiday camps, Oasis Holiday Village and Warner Leisure Hotels. The deal cost £700m and was part financed by Legal & General Ventures and Candover. The business was able to buy out these two private equity firms a few years later. Following this major expansion of the company some sites were subsequently sold as part of a rationalisation of the business. In March 2001 seven parks were sold to Premier Dawn for £15m, and soon afterwards Cinque Ports bought nine parks for £28.7m. In May 2001 twelve Haven sites were sold to Park Resorts Ltd, in a management buy-out in partnership with CBPE for £48m. In September 2001, Center Parcs acquired the Oasis Holiday Village, at Whinfell Forest, Cumbria. In February 2004 LGV and Candover sold their 28% stake back to management in a deal that valued the firm at more than £1 billion. And in October 2004 Bourne sold a package of five sites to Parkdean Holidays for £42m. In November 2004 the company sold its European operation Haven Europe for £250m (now named Siblu Europe. In 2015, Bourne Leisure came fourth in the 100 Best Companies to Work For, a list generated in the UK by The Sunday Times newspaper.
