Merlin Entertainments
 |
|
| Public | |
| Traded as | MERL |
| Industry | Visitor Attractions |
| Founded | December 1998 |
| Founder | Nick Varney |
| Headquarters | Poole, Dorset, UK |
|
Key people
|
Sir John Sunderland (Chairman) Nick Varney (CEO) |
| Products | |
| Revenue | $1278 million (2015) |
| $291 million (2015) | |
| $170 million (2015) | |
|
Number of employees
|
28,000 (2016) |
| Website | merlinentertainments |
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.
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 2004.
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 in 2005. Blackstone negotiated to buy control of Legoland for about £250 million, then merged it with Merlin. As part of the deal, KIRKBI AS, the investment arm of LEGO owners, took a share in Merlin Entertainments. Under The Blackstone Group in 2006, Merlin went on to buy Gardaland, an Italian theme park.
Early in 2007 Merlin also purchased The Tussauds Group, owner of the Madame Tussauds celebrity wax attractions, for £1 billion. After the Tussauds acquisition, Dubai International Capital held 20% of Merlin Entertainment. 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. 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 under a sale and leaseback agreement. Although the attraction sites are owned by Leslau, the attractions themselves are to be operated by Merlin, leasing each back on a renewable 35-year lease. Chessington World of Adventures was not included in the deal due to being the most profitable. 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 The Blackstone Group.
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