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Center Parcs to float following strong summer

Center Parcs is set to pursue a £2 billion-plus stock market flotation in the next year after achieving 99% occupancy over the summer.

This came despite the addition of a fifth village – the new £250 million Center Parcs Woburn Forest.

The resort achieved the same occupancy levels as the four established villages since its opening in June.

Chief executive Martin Dalby told The Times the Woburn village had been fully booked at full price throughout the summer, with the exception of a two-week introductory promotion.

He said occupancy across all five venues had reached 98.99% in the school holidays.

“We always hold back a couple of lodges to cover all eventualities so we were basically full,” he said.

“In the six-week period from mid-July to the end of August a total of 260,000 people had a holiday at Center Parcs, which is pretty phenomenal.”

There was speculation last year that Blackstone Group, which owns Center Parcs, would push the button on an initial public offering once Woburn Forest had proved itself.

Analysts now expect that to happen as early as next spring or summer, the newspaper reported.

Dalby said: “Our job was always to get Woburn up and running and prove it could be as successful as our other parks. But the issue of an exit is a question for Blackstone, not for us.”

The 362-acre Woburn Forest site has 625 lodges, a 75-room hotel, a spa and shops and restaurants. The centrepiece is a “subtropical swimming paradise” housing 7,000 tropical plants that can hold up to 1,500 people at one time.

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