Evergreen Escapes Group has purchased The Manor & Ashbury resorts in Devon for an undisclosed price.
The acquisition is the first completed by Evergreen Escapes Group, a new venture led by hospitality investor Stephen Twiss, who was formerly chief executive of Lakeshore Leisure Group. The business intends to acquire additional sites in the coming months.
The Devon resort spans two sites totalling 546 acres on the edge of Dartmoor National Park near Okehampton.
The resort, which has been owned by Joan and Simon Essex for 47 years, features two hotels providing 404 guest bedrooms, along with further accommodation on site for up to 60 staff.
The Ashbury has five 18-hole golf courses and guests can enjoy more then 70 different sports, craft, leisure and spa activities across both sites.
Matthew Smith, partner in the Knight Frank hotels team, which handled the sale, said: “We are thrilled to announce the completion of the sale of The Manor & Ashbury Resorts – a truly unique business and substantial landholding in the South West. The resorts generate consistent returns and offer significant value-add and development opportunities. This landmark transaction underpins investor confidence in the South West hospitality market. It’s a hugely exciting time for Stephen Twiss and the wider team, and we look forward to seeing how the business evolves under his stewardship. We also extend our best wishes to Simon and Joan Essex on their well-deserved retirement.”
Twiss added: “The acquisition of The Manor & Ashbury Resorts marks the first step in Evergreen Escapes Group’s journey and it couldn’t be a more perfect fit. It provides the ideal platform for us to realise our ambition of building an industry-defining portfolio of luxury escapes, bringing together holiday and leisure resorts providing an ‘escape the urban’ lifestyle to a multi-generational audience.
“We’re especially fortunate to be starting this journey with the exceptional 280-strong team at The Manor & Ashbury, whose passion for delivering outstanding guest experiences has earned them some of the highest levels of repeat visits in the industry. Their success is a testament to the fantastic legacy created by Simon, Joan and the entire team, whose vision has laid such strong foundations – and we look forward to building on that success together. Plans are already underway for an extensive room refurbishment programme, which will be the first step in a wider long-term development strategy.”
Joan and Simon Essex said: “Our 47 years of ownership have flown by, principally due to the skills, support and efforts of our totally committed team. We followed government advice in setting up a share incentive plan [SIP] in 2005. The plan has involved donating 49% of the company’s shares to the SIP so that separate issues of shares, across all staff, have been made every two or three years. The result is that 49% of the net value of the company will now be enjoyed, tax free, by 210 past and present staff. We are delighted that their efforts have been so richly rewarded. For us, it is the end of an era, and we have passed the baton on to Stephen Twiss and his experienced team.”
The sellers were represented by GA Solicitors and the purchaser was represented by Burnes Paull Solicitors.
