Merlin Entertainment Group

Merlin Entertainments plc

Type	Public
Traded as	:
Industry	Visitor Attractions
Founded	December 1998; 19 years ago (1998-12)
Founder	Nick Varney
Headquarters	Poole, Dorset, UK
Key people	Sir John Sunderland (Chairman) Nick Varney (CEO)
Products	Legoland Resorts Madame Tussauds Sea Life Aquariums Gardaland London Eye Chessington World of Adventures Thorpe Park Alton Towers Resort London Dungeon Blackpool Tower Heide Park Warwick Castle Hotham Alpine Resort Falls Creek Alpine Resort Orlando Eye Dreamworks Tours
Revenue	£1,457 million (2016)
Operating income	£320 million (2016)
Net income	£211 million (2016)
Number of employees	27,000 (2017)
Website	merlinentertainments.biz

Merlin Entertainments is a British-based company headquartered in Poole, Dorset (England), which operates 127 attractions, 19 hotels and 7 holiday villages in 24 countries. It is listed on the and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

In December 1998, Nick Varney, Andrew Carr and the senior management team of Vardon Attractions (Vardon plc) 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 2004. In May 2005, the company was acquired from Hermes by a division of The Blackstone Group which later started a major expansion. Over the years, Merlin acquired Legoland, Gardaland, an Italian theme park, and The Tussauds Group. The company was first listed on the in 2013.

When the Legoland theme parks came up for sale, Varney wanted to buy it but Hermes did not want to invest more capital. After the sale of Merlin to Blackstone Group, the company negotiated to buy control of Legoland for about £250 million in 2005, then merged it with Merlin. As part of the deal, KIRKBI AS, the investment arm of LEGO owners, took a share in Merlin Entertainments.

In May 2007 Blackstone purchased The Tussauds Group, owner of the Madame Tussauds celebrity wax attractions, for US$1.9 billion; this company was merged with Merlin and has since been managed by Merlin. After the Tussauds acquisition, Dubai International Capital, the previous owner, received a 20% stake in the combined entity as well as £1.03bn in cash. The Tussauds Group as a separate entity ceased to exist, and control of its attractions, including Madame Tussauds, The London Eye, Chessington World of Adventures, Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, Warwick Castle and Heide Park passed to Merlin.