A British newspaper reported today that Legoland owner Merlin Entertainments Group, is planning an initial public offering [IPO] on the London stock exchange, one that could earn the company more than 2 billion pounds (in excess of $3 billion).
Merlin's current largest shareholder is Blackstone Group, which also partners with NBC Universal in the Universal Orlando Resort. Blackstone, possibly via Merlin, has been tipped as a potential bidder for the up-for-sale Busch Entertainment Corp. theme parks, which include SeaWorld and Busch Gardens.
An IPO would raise a chunk of the cash necessary for that deal quite nicely, plus make the resulting company even more attractive to potential investors. And if Merlin does not pursue or acquire the BEC theme parks, it would have a pile of cash on hand to either build or buy new properties.
So what will it do?
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I hope that if Merlin does buy the parks that they DON'T end up going down the same path but invest more money into the parks...
I get to see the planned projects before they cut Large chunks out.
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If Merlin wants to get further into the theme park business, I can't imagine a better way than buying some of the most highly regarded parks in the industry. There isn't a single dog in that collection of parks. It's what businesspeople call a "turnkey operation", which is to say that nothing needs to be done to open the park. The only thing I would hope is that whoever buys the A/B parks doesn't mess with them too much, but continues down the same path.