NEWS: Candover considers selling Parques Reunidos

[Airtime&Gravity]

April 16 (Bloomberg) -- Candover Partners Ltd., which shut down its 3 billion-euro ($4 billion) leveraged buyout fund in January, is weighing a sale of Parques Reunidos SA, Europe’s second biggest amusement-park operator, three people with knowledge of the talks said.

 

The London-based private equity firm is in the process of selecting a bank to help review strategic options for the company, including a sale and an initial public offering, said the people, who declined to be identified because the decision hasn’t been made yet. A sale may value Parques Reunidos at 2 billion euros, they said.

 

Candover bought the Madrid-based company, which operates more than 60 theme parks, zoos and water facilities in Europe and the U.S., in January 2007 from Advent International Corp. The value of the investment increased by 35 percent between the acquisition and the end of 2009, according to Candover Investments Plc, Candover’s publicly traded parent and the fund’s largest investor. An official for Candover declined to comment.

 

Candover originally offered about 935 million euros for Parques Reunidos, Spanish newspaper Expansion reported at the time of the acquisition, citing unidentified people with knowledge of the deal.

 

Merlin Entertainments Group Ltd., Europe’s largest theme- park operator, which is owned by Blackstone Group LP, is also mulling an IPO. Both Candover and New York-based Blackstone bought the companies to consolidate Europe’s fragmented theme- park industry.

 

Merlin Chief Executive Officer Nick Varney said last month that an initial public offering “remains a very big option” the company is continuing to examine. The British company owns Legoland and Madame Tussauds.

 

In January, Candover’s backers decided to stop investing the buyout fund raised in 2008 after Candover Investments canceled its 1 billion-euro commitment.

 

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[carolinacaniac]

And the ever continuing game of "Theme Park Monopoly" continues............So which park equates to Boardwalk do you think?

 

-Gary T

[Airtime&Gravity]

Looks like Parques Reunidos is moving towards having an IPO.

 

LONDON (Dow Jones)--Candover is planning to list Parques Reunidos, the Spanish theme park it bought for around EUR900 million at the height of the boom, a person familiar with the situation told Dow Jones Newswires Monday.

 

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Credit-Suisse Group (CS) and Morgan Stanley (MS) have been appointed to run the process, the person added.

 

The proposed listing will be yet a further test of the public's appetite for private-equity owned companies at a tricky time amid volatile markets and the fallout from Greece's debt crisis which had threatened to spread to Spain, Portugal and Ireland.

 

The European IPO market has already had a rocky ride so far this year with successful listings such as Spain's travel company Amadeus IT Holding SA (AMS.MC), which launched just 10 days ago, and Germany's Kabel Deutschland Holding (KD8.XE) in the first quarter being viewed as the exceptions rather than the rule.

 

The move comes as Candover continues in talks about a possible takeover by a third party, reported to be Canadian pension fund Alberta Investment Management Company. The London-based buyout firm has been struggling with its future ever since its listed parent and manager Candover Investments PLC (CDI.LN) failed to meet a EUR1 billion commitment to the buyout firm's 2008 fund. It stopped investing and limited its focus to remaining assets which include oil services company Expro International and Swedish bedding manufacturer Hilding Anders as well as Parques Reunidos.

 

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[larrygator]

Candover not having much luck selling off Parques Reunidos

 

Partial capture of article follows below:

 

LONDON (Dow Jones)--Candover Investments PLC (CDI.LN) on Friday closed a new deadline for the sale of the Spanish theme park Parques Reunidos, as it seeks to warm up a process that has been on ice throughout the summer.

 

But with only one firm bidder, the process may not meet Candover's expectations on price, people familiar with the matter said.

 

Candover, the troubled U.K.-based private equity fund that is in wind-down mode after failing to reach agreement with a potential buyer, bought Parques Reunidos--which runs a number of amusement and theme parks in Europe and the U.S.-- for EUR900 million at ...