Blackstone Becomes World's #2 Amusement Operator

[jzarley]

Blackstone has announced the acquisition of the Tussauds Group, and its intention to combine those assets with its Merlin Entertainment division. This will create the second largest (after only Disney) "visitor attraction" company in the world:

http://www.blackstone.com/news/press_releases/03-05-07.pdf

This acquisition will combine the Tussauds wax museums, the Legoland Parks, Alton Towers, the "London Eye" giant wheel, and several other attractions under one corporate umbrella.

I've said it like a thousand times before, but I'm willing to bet that Blackstone was a substantial bidder during the Paramount Parks auction. The reported purchase price of Tussauds ($1.9B) is nearly $700M more than the winning bid for Paramount Parks...so, they definitely had the resources necessary.

If you combine Blackstone's lodging holdings (inlcuding owning a few substantial chains like La Quinta and Extended Stay America), with their entertainment attractions, they're quite the major global player in travel & leisure!

[ragerunner]

I wonder what type of park they could have turned KI into? The legoland parks are very well done and Alton Towers is one of the best theme parks in europe.

[The Interpreter]

I wonder what type of park they could have turned KI into? The legoland parks are very well done and Alton Towers is one of the best theme parks in europe.

And they just recently purchased both, so neither is any indication of what they might have done with the then-Paramount Parks...

[Kennywooddude]

I wonder how it will turn out. Isn't the new owners based in the US?