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Disney May Have Interest in Buying Sea World


HuskyCaucasian

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Disney may have interest in Sea World

According to reports, Disney is among those showing interest in purchasing Sea World following InBev's takeover of Anheuser-Busch.

 

InBev has announced their plans to sell off Busch's theme parks division following their takeover which could take place as early as November.

 

The report mentioned Disney among those bidding for Sea World as well as Blackstone owned Merlin Entertainments which operates the London Eye, Alton Towers and Madame Tussauds. Bids are also expected from Spain's Parques Reunidos, owned by private equity firm Candover, and Gulf state conglomerate Dubai World.

 

According to InBev's bankers "We've been approached by several companies but this deal will be based on who can bring the money to the table to fund the debt needed."

 

This is interesting. There have been rumors for YEARS that Disney wants to develop a "DisneySeas" park. This could save them some time and money. BAM! Instant 5th gate. Take some of the cash that WOULD have been put towards creating the new park and "reimagine" parts of seaworld.

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QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Aug 11, 2008 -> 10:05 PM)
Disney may have interest in Sea World

 

 

This is interesting. There have been rumors for YEARS that Disney wants to develop a "DisneySeas" park. This could save them some time and money. BAM! Instant 5th gate. Take some of the cash that WOULD have been put towards creating the new park and "reimagine" parts of seaworld.

 

I honestly don't see Disney buying Sea World unless they'd be buying it to shutter it, eventually followed by a marine-themed attraction on WDW property. AB has had to go for "pay once, come back all year" pricing to get people into the gates at Sea World in respectable numbers. Disney would never do that, but for parkgoers with seasonal passes it would be a wash.

 

The big thing is that owning and operating an Orlando I-Drive attraction would run completely counter to everything Disney has tried to do for the last 20 years to make WDW an insulated, captive-audience destination. The revenues they would make on tickets and in-park concessions would not be worth siphoning off a large portion of the captive WDW tourist population because unlike in WDW, none of the surrounding resorts and amenities are owned by Disney. Disney won't underwrite driving traffic to someone else's hotels and restaurants, imo.

 

If they could swing it financially, it would actually make a lot more sense for Universal to buy it. They would then basically own the anchoring attractions at both ends of I-Drive. They would also probably do a better job than AB did of integrating Sea World, Discovery Cove, and Aquatica into a cohesive resort destination, add a couple of themed hotels, and bring the Sea World franchise to the next level that neither AB or the prior owners could.

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The two names I've heard of in connection to the A-B parks (most notably SeaWorld(s) and Busch Tampa/Williamsburg) are Parques Reunidos and Blackstone. Not bad, but I'd personally prefer that the Busch family stays involved with the properties as they are beautifully run, shining examples of what a theme park should be. 10 times out of 10 I'd pick an A-B park over any Six Flags or Cedar Fair offering. I've been visiting both Busch parks and more recently SeaWorld for a long time- it would kill me to see anything negative happen to any of these parks. Great America since 2003-ish is a shining example of this. I have no desire to return to what used to be a crown jewel of the Six Flags chain.

 

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QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 12, 2008 -> 06:50 AM)
If Dubai is interested in it, there is no one out there with deeper pockets.

 

Just don't understand why Dubai would want it in the first place though. They're building their own supermega theme park in Dubai already. From a business perspective, I guess it would make sense if they got it on the cheap but it seems like there's plenty of bidders to drive the price out of the "undervalued" range.

 

They do have the deepest pockets though, that's for sure.

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QUOTE (Fotop @ Aug 13, 2008 -> 09:21 AM)
Just don't understand why Dubai would want it in the first place though. They're building their own supermega theme park in Dubai already. From a business perspective, I guess it would make sense if they got it on the cheap but it seems like there's plenty of bidders to drive the price out of the "undervalued" range.

 

They do have the deepest pockets though, that's for sure.

 

I am guessing because they think the dollar is cheap and is going to rebound pretty well, along with the economy.

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QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 13, 2008 -> 09:23 AM)
I am guessing because they think the dollar is cheap and is going to rebound pretty well, along with the economy.

 

Isn't the dollar at 6 month highs right now though? Also think there's probably easier ways to put that view on outside of acquiring some theme parks...

 

Granted, I think it's a solid play if they're trying to get their foot in the door in terms of having businesses in North America (specifically the US) but I just don't get why they'd want to do that in the first place. It seems to me their resources have been focused on making their home a tourist destination, why stray from that plan? Diversification would be the main reason, I suppose, but it's counter-intiuitive to their nationalistic strategy.

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QUOTE (Fotop @ Aug 13, 2008 -> 09:39 AM)
Isn't the dollar at 6 month highs right now though? Also think there's probably easier ways to put that view on outside of acquiring some theme parks...

 

Granted, I think it's a solid play if they're trying to get their foot in the door in terms of having businesses in North America (specifically the US) but I just don't get why they'd want to do that in the first place. It seems to me their resources have been focused on making their home a tourist destination, why stray from that plan? Diversification would be the main reason, I suppose, but it's counter-intiuitive to their nationalistic strategy.

 

The dollar is at historical lows, even with the short-term bounceback. Dubai has invested LOTS of money in the US, and they have always been interested in the bigger pieces.

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Understood it's at historical lows, and given this is long term play that makes sense.

 

Seems like a bit of a change of investment though. Hasn't the Middle East/Asia been mostly investing in US financials (Merrill, Citi, etc)? Theme parks is quite the different game, no?

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QUOTE (Fotop @ Aug 13, 2008 -> 08:11 AM)
Understood it's at historical lows, and given this is long term play that makes sense.

 

Seems like a bit of a change of investment though. Hasn't the Middle East/Asia been mostly investing in US financials (Merrill, Citi, etc)? Theme parks is quite the different game, no?

An interesting reference point seems like the early 90's/late 80's to me. Around that time IIRC, Japanese companies flush with cash came in to the U.S. and started making all sorts of wierd purchases of companies. Buying up things like random buildings, companies that they'd have no idea how to run (I think a couple of major movie studios and Rockefeller center were sold in this fashion). A lot of those places wound up losing money on the deals and selling out after a few years. There's still some sort of aura around owning an important piece of the American market right now.

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