Comments on: Busch & SeaWorld Parks For Sale http://www.thecoastercritic.com/2009/03/busch-seaworld-parks-for-sale.html Roller Coaster Reviews, Theme Park News, & Opinion Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:55:48 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: The Coaster Critic http://www.thecoastercritic.com/2009/03/busch-seaworld-parks-for-sale.html/comment-page-1#comment-1118 The Coaster Critic Mon, 09 Mar 2009 20:19:53 +0000 http://www.thecoastercritic.com/?p=982#comment-1118 Thanks for the analysis. I just hope the new owners are theme park operators of some sort and not just a bunch of investors. Even if they have to sell of the parks separately because no one company can afford all ten. PARC Management has done well with the former Six Flags parks, but if they weren't able to seal the deal on Hard Rock Park, these Busch parks must be way out of their price range. Now I'm really worried that my beloved Busch parks may be ruined…

]]> By: Ariel http://www.thecoastercritic.com/2009/03/busch-seaworld-parks-for-sale.html/comment-page-1#comment-1116 Ariel Sun, 08 Mar 2009 23:20:11 +0000 http://www.thecoastercritic.com/?p=982#comment-1116 It seems HIGHLY unlikely that Merlin has or will bid. They are owned by Blackstone, and if you read the news and even hear the comments of their CEO, they're effectively sitting everything out for a year or two, especially of this magnitude. PLUS, Blackstone's agreement with Universal prohibits Blackstone or any Blackstone affiliated company from owning ANY theme park in Florida, and if Blackstone wants to buy any park in the US, they have to get Universal's permission first. Blackstone is not bigger than GE, and GE isn't going to have one of their better performing business units cannibalized by a partner.

Now Parques? Really? Candover Capital, who owns Parques has invested less than a billion in this business unit. I suspect in this economy that you won't see them coughing up three or four times their total commitment so far into a chain in the US.

As for other suitors, look at potentially Russian money (they just bought Hard Rock Park), or, as for domestic money, it could be a play for Warren Buffet, or even some of the money in Las Vegas (don't let the gaming stocks fool you, there is a LOT of cash in certain people's pockets in Vegas, and some have even been nosing around acquisitions in this industry – they're looking to diversify). Forget about the likes of Dubai. If their government is borrowing billions from UAE, that part of the world is slowly unraveling.

My two cents…

]]> By: Chris Moran http://www.thecoastercritic.com/2009/03/busch-seaworld-parks-for-sale.html/comment-page-1#comment-1115 Chris Moran Sun, 08 Mar 2009 22:56:16 +0000 http://www.thecoastercritic.com/?p=982#comment-1115 Nice writing style. Looking forward to reading more from you.

Chris Moran

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