Hello all!! I'm Pablo from Spain. First of all, sorry if my english is not good enough, I'm not bilingual but I'll try my best. I've been following this topic a lot to know your opinions about the possible future re-purchase of PortAventura by Universal. In Spain we are very excited because the rumors are stronger than ever. Since Universal left there has always been a huge desire for their return. For the fanbase, that were the best years of the resort. Despite having spent almost 20 years since they left, Universal is well remembered. The subsequent owners have been horrible, and it has been passing from hand to hand. There has always been the illusion that Universal will return to the park since they did not leave because of bad economic results but because of the purchase of the company from General Electrics who were not interested in the parks sector. Universal said goodbye to the park in the last closing show "Fiestaventura" with a "Hasta pronto" (translate to "See you soon") and a promise to come back. This is why there have always been rumors of his return but not as strong as those of now.
Right now the owners of PortAventura are two investment funds, Investindustrial (Italian - 50.1% of the shares) and KKR (American - 49.9% of the shares). Investindustrial manage the park since 2013. These companies seek to increase the value of the companies they buy to sell them at a higher price according to package investment cycles. PortAventura's investment package is over and in 2024 they have to increase capital. They are two companies that by their nature are looking to sell the park, they are not theme park managers, and the latest movements suggest that they are in full search of a buyer.
I will try to summarize the local rumors that exist in Spain, which seem to come from insiders
- In August 2022, the first rumors of visits by Universal executives to the park arise. Normally they make visits every time to negotiate the use of the licenses that the park still uses (Woody, Betty, Shrek, express pass ...) but this time it seemed different. The meeting seems to have been between senior executives of NBCUniversal and the Bollini family, owners of Investindustrial.
- In September it goes viral on twitter #LaUltimaCena ( #TheLastDinner) with memes about the alleged meeting that would be taking place between the owners of PortAventura and Universal.
- New merchandising of Woody, Betty... arrive with the large Universal logo, at the same size as PortAventura one. Before it only came out in small print below.
- A well-known content creator of the park pulls information of supposed purchase negotiation that would still be in the air. However, it seems that workers inside believe that the purchase would be already made. He gave data about the renewal of Universal brands in the European registry, some of them of park management such as Hollywoodland. He also talks about PortAventura owners's alleged long trip to the IAAPA. The park begins to hire employees it had subcontracted and buys several hotels in the area. Supposedly all these changes are due to Universal's demands to improve the park to make the purchase. Among them open the park more days a year. PortAventura until last year was closed from January to March. This year it has opened in February with the Carnival season (Mardi Grass), event that Universal started in the park and that was not done since its departure. As you see, a lot of changes with a strong rumours. He commented that the 2023 season would be one of transition and improvement and tuning thing.
- And voilá this season the maintenance of the park has improved, there are more things painted, restored, closed spaces are being opened ... It has even returned the street theme animation that they eliminated years later from the Universal departure!! Almost 15 years without street animation.
-There is also the Hard Rock project as a citywalk that was stopped by political issues and that was commented that it could be linked to the return of Universal. The government approved the budget to build the Hard Rock project last month after being idle for 7 years.
- The latest rumors suggest that there would already be an agreement or that it would be missing little and that the date of the announcement would be on Halloween. All park workers have allegedly been summoned to a meeting where they have to dress elegantly without saying why. And two names would be in the table: Universal's Europe Resort or Universal's PortAventura Resort.
Sorry for the long post. There are more things and information that has been shared in Spain but I think I have commented the most important. There are many things that maybe are coincidence, maybe not...
There is a very big hype about this possible purchase and hopefully it will come true!