"Blackstone Group has sold its 21 percent stake in SeaWorld to Zhonghong Group, which gives SeaWorld a path into the growing Chinese tourism market and a partner with experience in theme-park development there. Zhonghong is paying a 33 percent premium on Thursday’s closing price, but the deal includes licensing and consulting deals for theme-park development in China. Reuters calculated the deal was worth about $429 million.
It’s unclear whether killer whales and other marine mammals could be a part of an expansion into China, but Spiegel said animal welfare isn’t a mainstream issue yet with Chinese consumers, Spiegel said.
Zhonghong’s other theme-park developments include the Monkey Kingdom theme park being built outside Beijing. Hailed as a “Disney-quality” concept, Monkey Kingdom was supposed to open in 2014 on 100 acres at a cost of $1.5 billion under Zhonghong’s real estate arm.
Zhonghong’s deal says that SeaWorld will “advise on the concept development and design of theme parks, water parks, and family entertainment centers to be developed and operated by Zhonghong Holding, including exclusive rights in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.”
One of SeaWorld’s two new board members is theme park and entertainment veteran Yoshikazu Maruyama, the head of Zhonghong’s American operations and a former executive at DreamWorks and Universal. The other new board member is Yongli Wang, Zhonghong’s chief strategy officer who has held several spots in the international banking and finance industry."
Source: Blackstone sells stake in SeaWorld - Orlando Sentinel
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I see parallels between this and Comcast's acquisition of Universal. I wonder if we may see a similar effect as SEAS now has a huge firm behind them. It also looks like SEAS may be making some money off the side as regular consultants for Zhonghong's other future parks, maybe even through their new creative team Deep Blue. At least Blackstone is out of the equation, which is always a good sign.
It’s unclear whether killer whales and other marine mammals could be a part of an expansion into China, but Spiegel said animal welfare isn’t a mainstream issue yet with Chinese consumers, Spiegel said.
Zhonghong’s other theme-park developments include the Monkey Kingdom theme park being built outside Beijing. Hailed as a “Disney-quality” concept, Monkey Kingdom was supposed to open in 2014 on 100 acres at a cost of $1.5 billion under Zhonghong’s real estate arm.
Zhonghong’s deal says that SeaWorld will “advise on the concept development and design of theme parks, water parks, and family entertainment centers to be developed and operated by Zhonghong Holding, including exclusive rights in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.”
One of SeaWorld’s two new board members is theme park and entertainment veteran Yoshikazu Maruyama, the head of Zhonghong’s American operations and a former executive at DreamWorks and Universal. The other new board member is Yongli Wang, Zhonghong’s chief strategy officer who has held several spots in the international banking and finance industry."
Source: Blackstone sells stake in SeaWorld - Orlando Sentinel
________________________________
I see parallels between this and Comcast's acquisition of Universal. I wonder if we may see a similar effect as SEAS now has a huge firm behind them. It also looks like SEAS may be making some money off the side as regular consultants for Zhonghong's other future parks, maybe even through their new creative team Deep Blue. At least Blackstone is out of the equation, which is always a good sign.
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