Investment giant promises to respect holiday camps charity goal

American investment giant Blackstone has increased its Dutch property portfolio by buying up all the holiday parks owned by religious charity RCN Group for an undisclosed sum.

Blackstone, which already owns some 1,700 homes in the Netherlands valued at €793 million on the company’s books, has promised it will continue to offer free holidays for needy families and poor pensioners, as the charity currently does.

Blackstone’s deal is the latest in a series of Dutch holiday park buy-ups, with American counterpart KKR purchasing Roompot and Landal GreenParks earlier.

The RCN was founded almost 75 years ago by the Dutch Reformed Church to enable the families of labourers and shopkeepers to have an affordable holiday. The charity owns 18 holiday parks, of which nine are in the Netherlands, eight in France and one in Germany.

The parks comprise some 1,300 bungalows and 8,000 camping spots on 500 hectares of land. Owners Interkerkelijk Oriëntaticentrum had a turnover of €74 million last year and the profit of €800,000 was spent on charitable causes.

RCN director René van Kieft told the Volkskrant he is confident Blackstone will continue the charitable and religious initiatives.

The buyer, he said, had been selected on the grounds of respect for the identity of the parks, the financial clout to expand the number of parks, maintain staff and the intention of not selling the parks in the short term.

The RCN said it had screened Blackstone for violations of human rights but did not look into its business interests in Israel. “That was not relevant at the time,” according to Kieft.

Van de Kieft said the money from the sale would range from “sustainable investment to charity”.