Link to an article about it in the Financial Times. Can anyone find the Bloomberg article mentioned?
Rumor Restructuring? Sale? Interest from Merlin Entertainments
- Thread starter Shane
- Start date
Zachary said:
Link for behind paywall
https://outline.com/PT7jgE
"The sources told the FT that Merlin had approached with an interest in parts of SeaWorld, but that SeaWorld had been reluctant to break itself into pieces instead of selling itself as a whole."
Huh, so maybe just the Busch parks.
I hope the parks aren't split up. A sale of the whole chain to merlin could be interesting.
Lord Robert said:Wouldn't it be funny if this potential sale turned Sesame Street: Forest of Fun into "Legoland Camelot"?
Just kidding, I know that it won't happen.
If you look at Merlin's operations in Europe, you will see that they never put the LEGO IP in non LEGOLand Parks. And if Merlin were to acquire all of SEAS then, Merlin would effectively own the licenses to the Sesame Street IP in the United States (Sesame Workshop has licensed it's IP to other parks outside the US such as Universal Stuidos in Asia, and Parc Adventura in Spain which was a former Busch, Universal, and Merlin property) anyway, I do not see Lego theming entering non-LEGO branded parks.
If I was going to get money, I'd say that Merlin is only intersted in the Busch Parks and maybe Sesame Place. Merlin has very strict rules in the chain against animal performances. I am almost certain that they are not intersted in owning the SeaWorld Parks. If they did purchase the whole chain I would suspect that we would see HUGE changes at the SeaWorld branded parks in the first couple of years to completely change their direction and purpose. They don't have any issues with operating Zooilogial Parks, but thy prohibit animal performances. Back when Blackstone first acquired BEC, it was suspected that this was the reason they did not roll the SEAS and Merlin parks together to begin with.tursiops said:
Also another note in that article, I had no idea that Blackstone had completely divested itself of SEAS ownership. On top of this, I am going to say I told you so on what I had bet Blackstone would do to BEC all those years ago when they bought it from AB. Drain every useful dime they could from the company, then ditch it once they couldn't make anymore money off of it. Exactly what Cerberus did to Chryslet before the financial crisis and what every Captial Management Group will do to a company it acquires.
Unfortunately, the BBC article doesn't seem to provide any additional information and quotes the Merlin Exec from August that stated she was specifically interested in Busch Gardens. The article really only mentions Tampa, so who even knows if Merlin is interested in Williamsburg.
Since no one seems to have said it recently, I would point put that there was previous interest in putting a LEGOLand in Virginia. Not that I am saying I believe that BGW would be modified in that way. But I don't think it is unreasonable to think about the possibility.
I've read all the articles I could find. Most say what's already been stated. One mentioned other interested parties and suggested Six Flags and Cedar Fair. I pray that doesn't happen. Motley Fool had an interesting take, I'm posting the link. I'm afraid these parks are not going to stay together much longer.
https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/10/05/disney-buying-seaworld-wouldnt-be-crazy.aspx
https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/10/05/disney-buying-seaworld-wouldnt-be-crazy.aspx
I saw a short REUTERS article the other day that essentially said the same thing. However it mentioned that SeaWorld preferred to sell itself whole, which is a slight change from just selling the BG parks that's been mentioned. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Every article that I have read had indicated that SeaWorld would prefer to sell the entirety of the chain. What I have read is that Merlin has really only been interested in the Busch parks and SeaWorld doesn't want to split them up, either take it all or take nothing.
Youhow2 said:
RollyCoaster said:
Zachary said:
So I think I've said this two other times, but here goes. While I don't find a Merlin purchase of the two Busch Gardens parks out of the question or even that absurd, I really don't think that Merlin is going to sprinkle LEGO into the park. It's not their formula. While LEGO parks are the only parks that Merlin currently operates in the US, they operate traditional theme parks in Europe and none of those parks have LEGO in them.
Retheming Forest of Fun to LEGO doesn't fit Merlin's "MO." Completely turning Busch Gardens Williamsburg into a LEGOLand is the only way I can see BGW getting LEGO themeing. What makes me think this is not going to happen is that Merlin already has a LEGOLand in Florida so converting BGT to a LEGOLand park wouldn't make sense so they'd have two Busch Gardens parks. Why would you then convert the Williamsburg park if you aren't going to convert the Tampa park? Keeping the Busch parks as more traditional theme parks helps Merlin get a footing in the US in the more traditional park market outside of the young children's park market. It makes great business sense for Merlin to operate Busch Gardens as Busch Gardens (or change their names if they aren't able to carry over the name licence from the SEAS/ABInBev deal).
Just my two cents.
Shane said:
I said it elsewhere, but I think that Merlin would be more apt to use things from it's European parks to boost BGW back to more "european" things from themeing to food.
I think that their MO here is to have a more traditional themepark without having to start from scratch on one.
Shane said:
Possibly. I could see them wanting to grow it though. Then again, seems as though Forest of Fun might have to change themeing. How likely is it that SEAS keeps Sesame place? If they do would they still allow BGW use them? If not, that's a prime place for a LEGO area without a huge overhaul to the overall park.
Shane said:
To me this is why it won't change. 2 Lego parks that close doesn't make sense, and 1 BG doesn't make sense.
Shane said:
Agreed.
Best case: Nothing changes. Worse case: Merlin changes some of the theme parts, adds their own flairs, makes it more of an amusement park than theme park.
Shane said:
This is very relieving to me. I wasn't imagining Merlin would convert the whole park to Legos but I still don't like the idea of having a toy advertised and showcased all over the park. I think I've only just recently come to terms with Sesame Street's presence.
Shane said:
Similar to Nichole reminding everyone of interest in creating a LegoLand in Virginia, Merlin already recognizes the lack of presence in the northeast and has plans to address--i.e. LegoLand NY. http://www.pressconnects.com/story/news/local/new-york/2016/06/15/legoland-planned-new-york/85941670/ (although not a "done deal" yet)
As for a potential deal, I'd be fine (I think) with Merlin controlling BGW/BGT, as long as they didn't "Lego-fy" the hamlets. I love Legos and LegoLand mind you--but a Lego San Marco would just be...wrong. Fortunately, I would tend to agree with those (notably Shane) who think that wouldn't happen. It would be extremely costly, if nothing else. Merlin did do that however with another "Gardens," i.e. Cypress Gardens, but I don't think that's really a fair comparison as the "gardens" were literally just that, easy to distinguish from the theme park otherwise, and the park overall was defunct and more of a greenfield for building LegoLand FL.
According to Bloomberg Merlin isn't interested in a deal. They also suggest there could be interest from Spain’s Parques Reunidos however. I don't know anything about their reputation.