Merlin's £200 million acquisition fund

[T0M]

Merlin have sourced £200 million loans to fund the buy-out of a presently unknown company.

What do you think they will go for? A park? Another 'midway'-type chain?

I suspect it will be something on the international circuit, but perhaps there's a tiny chance of it being Pleasure Beach?

 

[furie]

It's for CF, Ian has sold out to the man

I hope it isn't Blackpool, because the country needs competition, but I'd say £200 million is probably a fair price for the park.

It could just be another Sea Life type of thing though? What other "day out" chains are there though?

Of course, there's lots of stuff abroad, the list is near endless...

 

[marc]

Does not sound good tbh, Blackpool also springs to mind tbh unless they buy the Gulivar parks.

In a way I hope the monopoly commissions step in and stop them owning everything in the uk.

 

[T0M]

My incling would be that it isn't something in the UK - although I have thought an acquisition of Pleasure Beach might come in future years.

As Furie says, it could be any number of things overseas and I suspect that's what it will be. However, it's fun to speculate!

 

[Ben]

I think it'll be something overseas.

There's been nothing to suggest that Blackpool wants to be sold, or that Merlin particularly want it. I don't think they can be struggling because they're actually investing at the moment... Which is strange for Blackpool.

I'd go with something overseas.

It'd be funny if they were buying Flamingoland.

 

[marc]

Maybe it's portaventura ?

 

[SaiyanHajime]

I'm betting something oversees too, probably in the US.

 

[bob_3_]

BIG-ASS B&M ACROSS THE UK

 

[spicy]

Maybe it's portaventura ?

I would say Port Aventura is worth alot more than £200 Million, the size of the resort and the land they own is huge.

Be interesting to see who it is though, it will definately be overseas I would have thought, nothing in the UK really springs to mind.

 

[Inverse]

^ I would agree. But what we don't know is how much money they already have to put into the purchase. The original post said £200m of loans, could be added to. I would hazard a guess at something known and European, but hell... my guess is as worthless as anyone else's. Maybe they're eyeing up the Asia market, it certainly seems to be a growing area.

 

[dj-fireball999]

I know that Merlin are trying to buy PortAventura. Not sure how far they're getting with that.

I understand that they're trying to beat Disney in terms of visitors per year, becoming the most visited theme park operator in the world. Disney are able to beat them with only 9 parks and Merlin's plan seems to be to buy as many attractions as possible. Surely Disney are the winners overall?

 

[T0M]

^ I'm not sure it is their intent to beat Disney, but I was not aware they were after PortAventura - so maybe that's a possibility.

 

[marc]

Disney World alone beats Merlin so they have a long way to go

The best thing that can happen to portaventura so a European Harry Potter World, that would thrash DLP.

 

[Nemesis Inferno]

^ I'm not sure it is their intent to beat Disney, but I was not aware they were after PortAventura - so maybe that's a possibility.

No, it IS 110% that Merlin WANT to be bigger/better than Disney, they go on about NOTHING else... That is literally their one focus in life...

As for this... Dunno, could be something big or something small... Wait and see...

 

[Aaron]

No, it IS 110% that Merlin WANT to be bigger/better than Disney, they go on about NOTHING else... That is literally their one focus in life...

I remember when they first told us and they said 'yeah we hope to be bigger than Disney one day' I snorted out loud lol

 

[T0M]

^ Indeed, I meant the park being the reason behind this fund is a possibility after I learned they were interested in it!

 

[Martyn B]

Wouldn't be too surprised if it was something like Parque Warner in Madrid...?

But this is all just a guessing game, there are countless possibilities...

 

[dj-fireball999]

As far as I'm aware, it IS their main goal.

 

[Ben]

Where is this all coming from? A source would be nice.

 

[oriolat2]

Maybe it's portaventura ?

I would say Port Aventura is worth alot more than £200 Million, the size of the resort and the land they own is huge.

Be interesting to see who it is though, it will definately be overseas I would have thought, nothing in the UK really springs to mind.

Maybe it actually is. I mean, Merlin would only run the park since the real state and some of the land belongs to 'la Caixa' savings bank.

Investindustrial (the Italian people now running the park) previously ran Gardaland and when they took over PA they invested 80 million €. £200 million is something like 300 million €, right?