Park Resorts / Parkdean merger inquiry
| Case Outcome | Mergers - phase 1 clearance |
| Decision Date | 02 September 2015 |
| Date | 02 September 2015 |
| Subject Matter | Mergers |
| Court | Competition and Markets Authority (EW) |
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Anticipated merger of Dome Holdings Limited,
Regent Topco Limited, Tyson Topco Limited and
PD Parks Holdings Limited
ME/6550/15
The CMA’s decision on reference under section 33(1) given on 12 October 2015.
Full text of the decision published on 29 October 2015.
Please note that [] indicates figures or text which have been deleted or
replaced in ranges at the request of the parties for reasons of commercial
confidentiality.
SUMMARY
1. Dome Holdings Limited, Regent Topco Limited, Tyson Topco Limited
(collectively Park Resorts) and PD Parks Holdings Limited (Parkdean) have
entered into sale and purchase agreements, under which Park Resorts and
Parkdean are to be merged through the acquisition of all their respective
shares by a new company to form a new entity, Parkdean Resorts (the
Merger). Park Resorts and Parkdean are together referred to as the Parties.
2. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) considers that the Parties are
enterprises that will cease to be distinct as a result of the Merger, that the
turnover test is met and that, accordingly, arrangements are in progress or in
contemplation which, if carried into effect, will result in the creation of a
relevant merger situation.
3. The Parties both operate holiday parks in Great Britain. The CMA has
assessed the impact of the Merger on three product frames of reference,
namely the supply of pitches for privately owned static accommodation, the
supply of rented static accommodation and the supply of rental pitches for
touring caravans and tents. The CMA has assessed the impact of the Merger
at the national level and at a regional level in the four areas where the Parties
overlap most closely, namely East Anglia, North Devon, South Wales and
South West Scotland.
4. At the national level, the CMA believes that there is no realistic prospect of a
substantial lessening of competition (SLC) in any of the three product frames
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of reference due to the Parties’ low combined shares of supply ([10–20]% or
less in each of the product frames of reference), the limited geographic
overlap between the Parties, and the presence of many alternative holiday
parks across Great Britain which provide product offerings and facilities
similar to the Parties.
5. In each of the regional areas, fascia counts were undertaken based on drive-
time isochrones centred on the Parties’ sites. The CMA initially used
isochrones which reflected the distance between the Parties’ two closest sites
in the particular regional area. In areas where limited effective competition
was found on these conservative isochrones, the CMA then flexed the
isochrones up to a 60-minute drive time where this was justified on the basis
of local factors (eg the monitoring/benchmarking by the Parties in that area,
topography and the main road network) and other evidence which the CMA
received. The CMA identified an effective competitor set for its fascia count
based on the similarity of product offerings (ie competitors which have similar
facilities to the Parties) and those sites used as benchmarks by Parkdean.
6. The CMA believes that there is no realistic prospect of an SLC in any of the
overlap areas for any of the product frames of reference as, post-Merger,
there will be a sufficient number of competitors remaining to constrain the
merged entity. In addition, third parties did not raise any concerns about the
competitive impact of the Merger in any of the product overlaps in any
regional area.
7. Accordingly, the CMA considers that the Merger does not give rise to a
realistic prospect of an SLC as a result of horizontal unilateral effects.
8. The Merger will therefore not be referred under section 33(1) of the
ASSESSMENT
Parties
9. Park Resorts operates 49 holiday parks in coastal and lakeside locations on
England’s east coast, on the Isle of Wight, in North and West Wales and in
the Lake District. Park Resorts also sells caravan holiday homes and lodges,
and provides pitches for touring caravans and tents at 24 of its sites. The UK
turnover of Park Resorts in the financial year ending 31 December 2014 was
£176 million.
10. Parkdean operates 24 holiday parks in coastal, countryside and woodland
locations in the South and South West of England, Scotland, South Wales
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