| Type | private Ltd |
|---|---|
| Industry | Amusement Parks |
| Founded | December 1998 |
| Founder(s) | Nick Varney |
| Headquarters | Poole, United Kingdom |
| Key people | Nick Varney (Chairman and Chief Executive) Andrew Carr (Chief Financial Officer) |
| Products | Gardaland, Alton Towers, Chessington World of Adventures, Thorpe Park, Heide Park, Madame Tussauds, Sea Life Centres, The Dungeons, Seal Sanctuaries, Warwick Castle, EDF Energy London Eye, Legoland |
| Services | Family Amusement Parks |
| Employees | 13,000 (2007) |
| Parent | KIRKBI (36%) Blackstone Group (34%) CVC Capital Partners (28%) |
| Website | www.merlinentertainments.biz |
Merlin Entertainments Group Ltd is a British operator of amusement parks and other attractions. It is the largest such company in Europe, and globally the second largest after Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.
Headquartered in Poole, United Kingdom, Merlin Entertainments operates over Seventy attractions in ten European countries, as well as the USA, China, Hong Kong and Australia. Its success has been underpinned by strong partnership arrangements with both public and private sectors, with organisations as diverse as Disney and the Worldwide Fund for Nature.
In 2009, the company's properties hosted an estimated 38.5 million guests, making it the second-most visited theme park operator in the world, behind only Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.[1]
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In December 1998, Nick Varney, Andrew Carr and the senior management team of Vardon Attractions completed a management buyout of the company to form Merlin Entertainments Group Ltd. with the backing of the private equity firm Apax Partners. Apax sold the company to another financial investor, Hermes Private Equity, in 2003.
When the Legoland theme parks came up for sale, Varney wanted to buy it but Hermes did not want to invest more capital and sold Merlin to Blackstone Group for about £110 million. Blackstone negotiated to buy control of Legoland for about £250 million and then merged it with Merlin.[2]
Under Blackstone, Merlin went on to buy Gardaland, an Italian amusement park, and then The Tussauds Group, owner of the Madame Tussauds wax museums, for £1 billion.
The company owns a grand total of 623 attractions. Merlin Entertainments and Tussauds together attracted 30 million visitors during 2007 and employ more than 13,000 staff.
After the Tussauds acquisition, Dubai International Capital held 20% of Merlin Entertainment.[3]
The buyout of Tussauds was completed on 22 May 2007.[4] The Tussauds Group as a separate entity has ceased to exist, with control of its attractions, including Madame Tussauds, The London Eye, Chessington World of Adventures, Alton Towers and Thorpe Park, among others, passing to Merlin.
On 17 July 2007, as part of the financing for the Tussauds deal, Merlin sold the freeholds of Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, Warwick Castle and Madame Tussauds to private investor Nick Leslau and his investment firm Prestbury.[5] Although the attractions are owned by Leslau, they continue to be operated by Merlin, leasing each back on a renewable 35-year lease. Chessington World of Adventures (the fifth Tussaud's attraction) was not included in the deal.
By arranging the sale-leaseback of the properties and giving Dubai International Capital a stake in the combined entity, Merlin was able to acquire Tussauds without the need for any further capital investments from Blackstone or its other shareholders.[6]
As of 2007[update], negotiations reopened into the repurchase of Spain's PortAventura resort, which was built by Tussauds in 1994-5 and operated until 1998, when it was sold to Universal Studios. It has since been resold to Spanish banking group La Caixa.
On January 15, 2010, Merlin Entertainments bought closed Winter Haven, Florida-based theme park, Cypress Gardens.[7]
Merlin had planned to go public in early 2010, but market turbulence postponed those plans. Instead, Blackstone sold 20% of the company to the private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, reducing Blackstone's holding to 34%. CVC acquired another 8% from the Dubai investment fund, giving it 28% in all. KIRKBI, a Danish family trust that owns Lego, also increased its stake, emerging as the largest shareholder, with 36%. CVC paid a price that valued Merlin at £2.25 billion[8] -- more than six times what Merlin and Legoland together were worth when Blackstone acquired them five years earlier. Blackstone's investment was by that point worth more than three and a half times what it had paid.[9]
In late 2010, it was announced that Merlin will purchase approximately A$115 million worth of entertainment attractions located in Australia and New Zealand from Village Roadshow Theme Parks and Attractions. The sale will include Sydney Aquarium, Sydney Wildlife World, Oceanworld Manly, Sydney Tower and the Koala Gallery in Australia, in addition to Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World in New Zealand.[10] On 3 March 2011, the deal was finalised.[11]
The attractions can also be found as part of Legoland Billund, Legoland Deutschland, Legoland California, Gardaland Sea Life, Italy, Chessington World of Adventures and Alton Towers.
Merlin owns and operates six hotels across Europe:
They also hold the freehold for the Holiday Inn at the following hotel:
Conference facilities are located at:
In addition, the group owns and operates the Alton Towers Spa at the Alton Towers Resort. A sixth hotel is planned to open in 2010 at the Gardaland Resort in Italy. The seventh is another LEGOLAND hotel currently under construction at LEGOLAND Windsor (due to open in 2012), first of its kind within the United Kingdom. A hotel is also planned for Thorpe Park in the next few years whilst a new hotel/accommodation is likely for Alton Towers in the next few years as the Alton Towers resort expands opening.
Merlin have many Annual Pass systems, the primary purpose of them is to offer multiple visits within a one year period, the Annual Passes can either provide entry to one or all attractions.
The Annual Passes covering one attraction are:
The Annual Passes covering all attractions within their home country are:
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