It is interesting that B&M is being proposed as a manufacturer here. I've wondered for a while when they would make their entry in the compact coaster segment of the market, which in recent years has become a relatively large share of the total market.
If memory serves correctly, the smallest coaster B&M ever built (save for the two family inverted coasters in China, but we'll come back to those later) is Dæmonen. With its three inversions, a height of nearly thirty meters, and two six-car trains, even that one is vastly bigger than anything most parks out there could even dream of building these days. Problem is, B&M's entire portfolio is filled with nothing but huge coasters (again plus two family inverts, we'll get to those in due time). Hypers, Wing Coasters, Dive Machines, Flyers, and the occasional thrilling Invert. Even the "small" dive machines by B&M are quite big coasters all things considered (both Krake and Baron 1898 have drops of up to 40 meters and cost 12 million Euro to build). B&M is almost exclusively working in a market segment few established parks can afford to shop in.
Of course, the exception is those two Family Inverted Coasters, but those are a pretty hard sale considering that both Vekoma and Intamin offer essentially the same, presumably at a lower price. It's telling that B&M only ever sold two of those, both to the same Chinese chain. Meanwhile, Vekoma has sold 31of their SFC models, of which 8 in China. Clearly, the FIC competes in a segment that's a little too crowded for B&M to make reliable business with it.
Of course, B&M has made decent business in China, with 17 coasters sold since 2011. I guess this could compensate somewhat for their declining sales numbers in Europe and the US in the same period. However, only three of B&M's Chinese sales were sold to parks that were already operating. Those are the two aforementioned Family Inverted Coasters and one Wing Coaster (sold to the same Happy Valley park that built one of the FICs). It seems like Chinese parks are happily investing in big B&Ms when establishing the park, but they aren't repeat customers. That's going to pose a bit of a problem as the Chinese theme park market becomes more saturated.
So I think it is in the cards that B&M has to diversify with adding smaller and more affordable coaster types to their product catalog. They can't keep selling "luxury coasters" exclusively when so few parks are buying them. In that case, it makes sense for them to cooperate with Chessington. At some point, they have to go to the "second tier" parks for their business to survive. It will be interesting to see what their take on the compact family thrill coaster concept looks like.