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WILLIAMSBURG - The Financial Times of London reported Thursday that bidders are lining up for the anticipated sale of $7 billion in assets that brewing giant InBev wants to unload as part of its $52 billion takeover of Anheuser-Busch.Chief among those assets is Busch Entertainment, which operates 10 theme parks including Busch Gardens Europe and Water Country USA. The sale is expected to reap up to $4 billion....
..With a virtual for-sale sign planted in front of Shamu Stadium, AB InBev wants out of the theme-park business — presenting a rare opening for other big tourism players to nab some premium assets.Think about this: Universal Parks & Resorts and Busch Entertainment Corp. Together they would create a theme-park empire that could begin to rival Walt Disney World....
...Speculation remains that the company's entertainment division -- including Anheuser-Busch's Sea World and Busch Gardens franchises -- remains high on the "to sell" list. Considering the economic climate and the struggling theme-park industry, a qualified buyer, at least in the U.S., may be hard to find anytime soon.The poor balance sheets of Cedar Fair (NYSE: FUN) and Great Wolf Resorts (Nasdaq: WOLF) won't support an offer. Six Flags has filed for bankruptcy protection. And the strongest of the lot, Disney (NYSE: DIS), doesn't appear to need the additional challenges of buying a competitor, especially one that has three Orlando attractions within shouting distance of Disney World....
Blackstone Group LP, the world’s largest private-equity firm, may buy the amusement-park business of Anheuser-Busch InBev NV for about $2.5 billion to $3 billion, according to a person familiar with the discussions.An agreement may come as soon as next week, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. The negotiations may not result in a transaction, the person said. Representatives of Blackstone and InBev declined to comment.InBev, the world’s largest brewer, inherited the SeaWorld and Busch Gardens amusement parks as part of its $52 billion merger with Anheuser-Busch last year. The company has since cut jobs, culled marketing budgets and sold assets to pay down debt....
i smell sf 50th anniversary written all over this
...Perhaps the most noticeable change: Budweiser's iconic Clydesdale horses will be removed from SeaWorld and Busch Gardens parks. Atchison said the horses will remain a part of Anheuser-Busch's beer-marketing division. Some Anheuser-Busch signage will also likely be taken down n the coming weeks.But beyond that, "I don't think guests will see a change," Atchison said. "There's going to be a lot of continuity."...
...The buyer this week was Blackstone Group, a New York private equity company. Again, SeaWorld has an owner without theme parks or entertainment as a core competency. Private equity firms essentially do not have cores anyway. They typically buy companies, cut costs, fix up the financial numbers and eventually sell them to someone else for a profit.Blackstone already has acquired other theme parks that needed financial fixes, such as Universal Orlando Resort.Once all its parks are on steadier financial footing, Blackstone could sell the whole package to a company with entertainment core competencies. In theory, SeaWorld finally would have a suitable owner.Let's hope Blackstone knows what it is doing. Cutting costs at SeaWorld parks appears difficult. The new owner cannot exactly give walking papers, say, to the penguins and belugas and keep the orcas, dolphins and sea lions. Cutting jobs won't save much. Young workers don't earn much in the way of salaries.Raise ticket prices? Cut operating days? Those options seem more like suicide than sensible cost-cutting.Theme parks need continuity and long-term planning to bring in new attractions. Otherwise, the crowds will dwindle. Changing owners can disrupt planning....
Topic: Busch Theme Parks SOLD to Blackstone (Read 6651 times)
