A leading holiday park operator - with sites across the county - is on the verge of being sold to US investors in a deal worth close to £1billion.

US real estate investment trust Sun Communities is understood to be in the closing stages of clinching a deal to buy Park Holidays in order to capitalise on the boom in staycations, brought about by the pandemic.

And sources close to the deal say it is likely to be agreed imminently.

Park Holidays, which is based in East Sussex, operates sites in Whitstable, Leysdown, Birchington, New Romney and Dymchurch as part of more than 40 nationwide.

It offers holiday accommodation as well as the chance to buy holiday homes on the sites.

Snapped up for £362m by asset management firm the Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) in 2017, it is expected to change hands for £900m - representing a huge growth in value.

Reports suggesting a possible sale were first published back in May with a number of interested companies believed to be keen to snap up the Park Holidays operation.

It is understood ICG appointed bankers at Royal Bank of Canada and HSBC to oversee an auction of the operator.

There has been a huge surge in holidays in the UK since the pandemic ushered in a host of travel restrictions - a situation which looks likely to continue into 2022 as the number of cases continue to rise in many parts of the world.

A spokesman for ICG told KentOnline it was unable to comment on the negotiations.

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