Les Vacances Camping Paradis is a leader in French outdoor accommodation. Its managers, Olivier Lachenaud, Frédérick Gers and Didier Bourgoin have teamed up with MBO+—a benchmark investor in high-potential mid-caps and family office active in the tourism sector —to spur development of the Group’s established businesses and kick off an acquisitions program.
MBO+ will not just support Les Vacances Camping Paradis’ new growth chapter financially. It will also contribute its expertise in growth via acquisitions, organizing rapidly scaling businesses, and crafting ambitious ESG roadmaps.
Exceptional growth
Les Vacances Camping Paradis boasts a wide range of complementary activities:
- A campsite franchise under the cheerful and iconic “Camping Paradis” brand, with over 90 member campsites at end 2022.
- A campsite management service for municipalities and private owners, with over 20 sites managed (Alpha Camping).
- An online booking platform under the “MisterCamp” brand.
- A campsite employee training center, the “Camping Paradis Academy”.
Since its inception in 2019, the Group has been remarkably successful and is now France’s third largest campsite chain, notably due to the exceptional increase in its franchised and managed campsites (about 110 at the beginning of 2023). It generated revenues of €28 million in 2022 and expects to top €100 million in 2023.
Uniquely positioned in a growing market
The French outdoor accommodation market is resilient and growing. It enjoys high barriers to entry owing to site scarcity and regulatory hurdles.
Les Vacances Camping Paradis offers a unique blend of services and operations expertise for mid-sized campsites (150 to 250 spots), which is still a deep and highly fragmented market segment. Its success lies in both the popularity of the “Camping Paradis” brand, which helps independent campsites stand out and get noticed, and its comprehensive range of high value-added services for campsites in its network (digitalization, marketing, yield management, employee training, sustainability policy, etc.).
But Les Vacances Camping Paradis also owes its success to an outstanding management team led by Olivier Lachenaud, Frédérick Gers, and Didier Bourgoin, three serial entrepreneurs with an excellent track record in outdoor accommodation.
“We’re thrilled with this deal which kicks off the company’s second phase of development. In MBO+, we’ve found stellar partners who already know and understand our markets and their challenges. Now everything is in place for us to continue expanding the Camping Paradis experience, which we want people to be able to enjoy in all sorts of tourist destinations.”
- Olivier Lachenaud, Vacances Camping Paradis CEO, Frédérick Gers, Vacances Camping Paradis Managing Director, and Didier Bourgoin, Alpha Camping Managing Director.
“We were impressed by the quality of the management team’s project, and by Les Vacances Camping Paradis’ rapid growth. MBO+ will contribute its extensive experience in primary market transactions for rapidly scaling companies and provide expert support for the company’s next development phase. The backdrop to all this is that the French outdoor accommodation market is revving up and transforming, consumer patterns are changing, and everyone should be able to enjoy a high-quality, local, sustainable vacation.”
- Xavier de Prévoisin, MBO+ Partner, and Raphaël Lahaye, MBO+ Director