Economy•25 Sep ’24 15:03Author: BNR Web Editors
Major shareholder Waterland will have to dig deep into its pockets to save EuroParcs. The holiday park company, which has been in financial trouble for some time, has a debt of more than 200 million euros to, among others, the American lender Ares, Rabobank and ABN Amro. The creditors therefore want major shareholder Waterland to pay millions of euros to keep the company afloat, according to research by Het Financieele Dagblad.
Waterland invests ‘tens of millions’ in Europarcs
4 min 14 secEuroParcs prevents forced sale of holiday park by agreeing to debt restructuring. (ANP / Olaf Kraak Photography)
The exact amount that Waterland has contributed is not known, but according to FD journalist Joris Polman it is ‘certainly tens of millions’. Waterland, as major shareholder of EuroParcs, manages a total of 85 companies with a combined value of approximately 14 billion euros. EuroParcs is therefore just one of the many companies under the wing of the investor.
‘Waterland will be able to cope with this in the big pile, but it is not fun for them’
FD journalist Joris Polman
Decrease in demand
The problems for EuroParcs started in 2021, when the company failed to meet financial agreements with its investors and fell further and further into debt. Eventually, EuroParcs was placed under ‘special management’, which Polman describes as the ‘intensive care of the banks’.
According to EuroParcs CEO Wouter Vos, the problems started when demand for holiday homes peaked after the corona pandemic. Many people bought or rented holiday homes because travelling abroad was not possible.
Combination of factors
In addition to the collapse in demand, new challenges emerged, Polman says. The management of EuroParcs points to several external factors that contributed to the company’s financial problems. Major causes include the war in Ukraine, global tensions, rising interest rates and changes in fiscal and inflationary conditions. In addition, an internal component plays a role: tenants and owners were sometimes dissatisfied with the company’s operations, Polman says. So it is a combination of factors that EuroParcs has to deal with.
‘According to the management of EuroParcs, a plan has been drawn up to get the income back on track, and they report that this process is now moving in the right direction,’ says Polman
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