SUFFOLK'S largest holiday park is set to get a new owner.Private equity group Blackstone is to pay £205 million to take over holiday company Center Parcs - paying shareholders 80p a share.

SUFFOLK'S largest holiday park is set to get a new owner.

Private equity group Blackstone is to pay £205 million to take over holiday company Center Parcs - paying shareholders 80p a share.

The company owns centres at Elveden in Suffolk's Breckland, Nottinghamshire, Wiltshire and Cumbria - and is planning to develop another centre in Bedfordshire.

It was originally owned by a Dutch group and then taken over by Scottish and Newcastle breweries before being floated independently.

It is the market-leader in high-value holidays, and the Elveden centre is very popular for short break holidays among families from throughout this region.

It reopened to the public three years ago after a devastating fire in 2002 destroyed the central leisure complex and damaged its swimming pool.

That was the biggest blaze ever dealt with by firefighters from Suffolk.

Center Parcs is the latest company to be taken private by a private equity group, which will probably try to develop it before refloating it on the stock market at a later date.

A spokesman for the company said there were a number of material and financial operational constraints which made accepting the deal a prudent move.

More than 1.5 million people visit its four sites in Britain each year.