New York. NY . August 24. 1007 - MidOcean Partners (“MidOcean”), a private equity firm with offices in New York and London, announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement to sell Palace Entertainment, the largest owner and operator of water parks and family entertainment centers in the U.S., to Parques Reunidos, one of Europe’s leading operators of attraction parks. The transaction is valued at approximately $330 million plus cash and lees net debt as of July 31, 2007.
Palace Entertainment is the largest operator of water parks and family entertainment centers in the U.S., with 33 parks and over 10 million visitors annually. Palace Entertainment waterparks include; Wet ‘N Wild in Greensboro NC, Raging Waters in San Dimas, San Jose and Sacramento, CA, Splish Splash in Riverhead NY, Big Kahuna‘s in Dastin FL, Water Country in Portsmouth NH, Mountain Creek in Vernon, NJ and Wild Waters in Ocala FL. Palace Entertainment also owns Boomers, Castle Park, Silver Sprlngs, Malibu Grand Prix, Mountasia, and Speedzone family entertainment centers in CA. TX. FL, GA, and NY. MidOcean acquired Palace Entertainment in 2006.
“We are pleased with the progress that we have made at Palace Entertainment during our ownership. With our experience investing in the leisure sector, we were able to bring significant management resources to Palace and have grown the business both organically and through acquisition. We have built Palace into a leader in its industry and a great platform which will facilitate Parques Reunidos’s entry into the U.S. leisure market,” said Tyler Zachem, Managing Director of MidOcean.
AI Weber, the CEO of Palace Entertainment, said “Palace Entertainment has benefited from a strung partnership with the MidOcean team and we are proud of what we have achieved together. We believe that Palace is well positioned to continue to be a leader in the United States leisure-park industry and is well positioned to become an important asset in Parques Reunidos’s portfolio. We are looking forward to working with Richard Golding and the Parques Reunidos team to leverage their international expertise as we continue to provide guests with a high-quality and value-oriented place to escape, have fun, and create memories together.”
Parques Reunidos operates 28 separate parks, including amusement parks, animal parks, and water parks, across 8 countries. More than 12 million visitors are attracted annually to its amusement parks. Its holdings include the flagship Parque de Atracciones and the Zoo Aquarium (both in Madrid).
According to Richard Golding, the CEO of Parques Reunidos, “Palace Entertainment operates many well-known and highly-attended water parks and family entertainment centers, and we are pleased to enter the U.S. market with this acquisition. The acquisition of Palace Entertainment represents a major step in Parques Reunidos’s strategy of becoming a leading player in the global leisure parks market, and the combined group will provide an even stronger platform for continued growth. We look forward to working with the Palace team to continue to develop these family-friendly attractions and market them to an even broader group of visitors.”
The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals and expected to close in the third quarter of 2007. The Royal Bank of Scotland provided committed financing for the transaction. Morrison Cohen served as legal counsel to MidOcean Partners and Clifford Chance provided legal counsel to Parques Reunidos.
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About Parques Reunidos
Parques Reunidos is the second largest European operator of Leisure Parks and the seventh in the world with 28 parks in 8 countries and 12 million visitors per year. The head office is located in Madrid, Spain and the group is majority owned by Candover, a leading European buyout specialist. For more information visit www.parquesreunidos.com or www.candover.com.
About MidOcean Partners
MidOcean Partners is a premier New York-based alternative asset manager that specializes in middle market private equity and alternative credit investments. Since its inception in 2003, MidOcean Private Equity has managed over $4.5 billion of committed capital and has targeted investments in high-quality middle market companies in the consumer and business services sectors. MidOcean Credit Partners was launched in 2009 and manages approximately $8 billion across a series of alternative credit strategies, collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), and customized separately managed accounts as of November 30, 2018
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