HgCapital has bought Hoseasons for up to €40m ($47m) after Rothschilds, the bank running the UK holidays group's disposal, decided to include it in the restricted auction on the basis of its leisure sector experience.

Jeremy Sharman, a partner at HgCapital working on the Hoseasons buy-out, said: "We have done 10 deals in the leisure and travel sector in the past 10 years. Our team has been good at identifying opportunities in niche areas before they take off, such as buying Sunsail just as sailboat hire started becoming so popular."