It is less than three weeks since news broke in ‘The Times’ that The Club Company, the golf course operator formerly known as Clubhaus, had appointed Close Brothers as adviser to a possible £100 million sale, just two years after being taken private in a £56.5 million deal. The company was said to have already received a number of unsolicited approaches.
The Club Company is a private company owned by Legal and General Ventures and the executive management. It claims to have developed a unique club concept in England combining a traditional golf environment with superb modern health and fitness facilities for the whole family in a ‘country club environment’. The Club Company currently owns 11 clubs in England of which 9 have been developed into Country Clubs, including Nizels in Kent, Mentmore in Buckinghamshire, Castle Royle in Berkshire, and The Tytherington in Cheshire.
To many golf industry observers the suggested £100 million price tag seemed somewhat inflated. The whole golf business in the UK has just come out of a longer winter season than normal and now gone into head-to-head competition with the attractions of the World Cup. On top of that there are now water restrictions in some parts of the country. The market could be described as ‘challenging’ to say the least.
Despite all this The Club Company is believed to have attracted at least two bids well in excess of £90 million and one bidder has now entered a period of ‘due diligence’. An announcement about the future owner of the group is expected soon.
The Club Company www.theclubcompany.com
