ATTRACTIONS MANAGEMENT
THEME PARK NEWS
New Zealand theme park for China
A NZ$400m (£140m, €164m, US$202m) New Zealand-themed visi- tor attraction is to be built at Qufu, China – the birthplace of philosopher and thinker Confucius. The 25sq km New Zealand
Gardens project will boast a replica Maori village, rock climbing facili- ties, a vineyard, a kiwi fruit orchard, a dairy farm and a luxury golf resort. The brainchild of a Chinese devel-
The park is themed on multimedia, cinematography and audio-visual techniques
CDA in Futuroscope merger talks Parc du Futuroscope – France’s
Compagnie des Alpes (CDA) is in discus- sions with the Conseil Général de la Vienne with a view to merging the CDA group with the Futuroscope theme park near Poitiers in west central France. The move would see CDA becoming the
controlling shareholder of the park’s operat- ing company and taking over Futuroscope’s current operations and fi nancing. The Vienne département, which currently owns 70 per cent of the park, would remain a sig- nifi cant shareholder, with minority blocking and governance rights.
Blackstone sells Merlin stake to CVC
Luxembourg-based CVC Capital Partners has acquired a 28 per cent share in UK-based visitor attractions operator Merlin Entertainments. The stake was sold by Merlin’s larg-
est shareholder, private equity giant Blackstone Group, which had originally hoped to fl oat the business. As mar- kets remain volatile, Blackstone agreed to offl oad its share in Merlin, fi ve years after it acquired the company from Hermes Private Equity, in a deal worth £102.5m (US$187.2m, 154m). Blackstone will continue to hold a
signifi cant interest in Merlin. KIRKBI, the privately-held, family-owned Danish investment and holding company that controls the LEGO Group, has kept its shareholding unchanged.
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third-largest French theme park and based on multimedia, cinematographic futorscope and audio-visual techniques – welcomed 1.7 million visitors in 2009, compared with 500,000 in 2003. Sales in 2009 were €80m (£68m, US$102m), with a net income of €8m (£6.8m, US$10.2m). CDA operates 36 leisure sites across six
European countries – France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and the UK – with 15 leading ski areas in the Alps and 21 leisure parks.
oper currently based in New Zealand, the project’s ultimate goal is to boost tourism to New Zealand by giving Chinese visitors a little taste of the country “closer to home”. The New Zealand tourism ministry
is not formally backing the project, but is known to support it, as it could potentially boost long-haul tourism to the region from mainland China – already New Zealand’s fourth biggest market for inbound visits. The fi rst phase of the theme park
project is scheduled to open this summer and more than 1.5 mil- lion people are expected to visit the attraction during the fi rst year alone.
Parques Reunidos acquires Movie Park
Private equity group Palamon Capital Partners has confi rmed that it has com- pleted the sale of Movie Park Germany to operator Parques Reunidos for an undis- closed sum. Movie Park Germany – one of the coun- try’s largest theme parks – is the last
remaining asset of the Star Parks Group, set up by Palamon in 2004 to acquire seven attractions from Six Flags. Following the sale of six of the seven
assets four years ago, a three-year pro- gramme to reposition and refocus Movie Park Germany has helped increase attend- ance by 40 per cent. Palamon partner Jonathan Heathcote said: “Movie Park Germany is a business that has seen substantial profi table growth over the past three years driven by strong attendance levels.” Spain-based group Parques Reunidos
currently owns or operates nearly 70 parks in a number of countries, including the US, France, Norway and the UK, and is one of the largest operators in the world. First opened to the public 14 years ago,
Attractions at the park include stunt shows Read Attractions Management online
attractionsmanagement.com/digital
Movie Park Germany has more than 30 rides, including fi ve rollercoasters.
AM 3 2010 ©cybertrek 2010
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