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Merlin Entertainments

Merlin Entertainments Limited

Company type	Private[1]
Industry	Entertainment
Founded	14 December 1998; 25 years ago (1998-12-14)
Headquarters	Poole, Dorset , England
Key people	Scott O'Neil (CEO)
Revenue	£1,688 million (2018)[2]
Operating income	£327 million (2018)[2]
Net income	£230 million (2018)[2]
Owners	Kirkbi A/S (47.5%) CPP Investment Board Blackstone Group
Number of employees	30,000 (2024)
Website	merlinentertainments.biz

Merlin Entertainments Limited is a British entertainment company based at PooleinDorset, England, which operates a number of theme parks and other tourist attractions. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until November 2019, when it was acquired by a consortium that includes Kirkbi A/S (the investment arm of the Kristiansen family, which controls The Lego Group).

In December 1998, Nick Varney, Andrew Carr and the senior management team of Vardon Attractions (Vardon plc) completed a management buyout of the company to form Merlin Entertainments Group Ltd., with the backing of the private equity firm Apax Partners. Apax sold the company in 2004 to another financial investor, Hermes Private Equity.^[3]

In May 2005, the company was acquired from Hermes by a division of The Blackstone Group,^[4] which later started a major expansion. Over the years, Merlin acquired Gardaland, an Italian theme park, and The Tussauds Group. The company was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2013.^[5]

When the Legoland theme park was up for sale, Varney wanted to buy it, but Hermes did not want to tie up more capital. After the sale of Merlin to Blackstone Group, the company negotiated to buy control of Legoland in 2005 for about £250 million, then merged it with Merlin.^[6] As part of the deal, Kirkbi A/S, the investment arm of LEGO's owners, took a share in Merlin Entertainments.^[7][8]

In May 2007, Blackstone purchased The Tussauds Group, owner of the Madame Tussauds wax museums, for US$1.9 billion. This company was merged with Merlin and has since been managed by Merlin.^[9][10] After the Tussauds acquisition, Dubai International Capital, the previous owner, received a 20% stake in the combined entity as well as £1.03bn in cash.^[11][9][12]

On 17 July 2007, as part of the financing for the Tussauds deal, the freeholds of Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, Warwick Castle and Madame Tussauds were sold to private investor Nick Leslau and his investment firm Prestbury, with a subsequent leaseback agreement.^[13] Although the attraction sites are owned by Leslau, they are operated by Merlin based on a renewable 35-year lease.^[9]

On 15 January 2010, Merlin Entertainments bought Cypress Gardens, a defunct theme park in Winter Haven, Florida. It was reopened as Legoland Florida theme park.^[14]

In 2015, the company opened the Orlando Eye Ferris wheel attraction in Orlando. It then sold the wheel in 2018 and repurchased it in 2024.

Reports in early October 2017 indicated that Merlin Entertainments was considering a takeover of Sea World in Orlando, but on 11 October, the company said it was no longer involved in such discussions.^[15]

In late 2010, it was announced that Merlin would purchase approximately A$116 million worth of entertainment attractions located in Australia and New Zealand from Village Roadshow Theme Parks and Attractions. The sale would include Sydney Aquarium, Sydney Wildlife World, Oceanworld Manly, Sydney Tower and the Koala Gallery in Australia, in addition to Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World in New Zealand.^[16] On 3 March 2011, the deal was finalised.^[17] This was followed by the $140 million acquisition of Living and Leisure Australia which owned several attractions in the Asia-Pacific region including UnderWater World, Melbourne Aquarium, Falls Creek Alpine Resort, Hotham Alpine Resort, Otway Fly, Illawarra Fly, Busan Aquarium and Siam Ocean World.^[18][19]

On 28 June 2013, Merlin Australia's Madame Tussauds in Sydney placed a wax figure of the former Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, into a mock queue of the unemployed at a Centrelink office in central Sydney. Deposed by the Australian Labor Party in the evening of 26 June, and replaced by Kevin Rudd, the publicity stunt drew wide attention and international criticism for the blatant disrespect it cast on, specifically, the first female prime minister of Australia.^[20]

Merlin had planned to go public in the early 2000s, but market turbulence postponed those plans. Instead, Blackstone sold 20% of the company to the private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, reducing Blackstone's holding to 34%. CVC acquired another 8% from the Dubai investment fund which is no longer involved with the company, giving it 28% in all. Kirkbi, a Danish family trust that owns LEGO, also increased its stake, emerging as the largest shareholder, with 36%. CVC paid a price that valued Merlin at £2.25 billion^[21] – more than six times what Merlin and Legoland together were worth when Blackstone acquired them five years earlier. Blackstone's investment was by that point worth more than three and a half times what it had paid.^[22]

On 8 November 2013, Merlin floated 30% of the company on the London Stock Exchange, valuing the private equity-backed company at almost £3.4bn.^[23]

In June 2019, the company's board agreed to recommend a takeover offer of £4.8 billion from a consortium consisting of Kirkbi A/S, CPP Investment Board and The Blackstone Group.^[24] The takeover was approved by the high court in November 2019.^[25]

On 5 December 2019, Entertainment One announced a new multi-territory partnership with Merlin that would open an interactive PJ Masks nautical-themed trail throughout the company's Sea Life aquariums worldwide starting in February 2020.^[26]

Further tying into the collaboration between Merlin and eOne, select episodes of PJ Masks season 4 will feature underwater adventures.^[26]

Due to eOne being sold to Lionsgate (later Lionsgate Studios) in 2023, Hasbro (eOne's former parent company) retained the partnership with Merlin.

Name	Location	Year Opened	Year Acquired	Notes
Alton Towers Resort	Staffordshire, UK	1860	2007	Operator; Acquired in Tussauds Group deal.
Chessington World of Adventures Resort	Chessington, Greater London, UK	1987	2007	Owner and operator; Acquired in Tussauds Group deal.
Gardaland Resort	Castelnuovo del Garda, Italy	1975	2006	Owner and operator; Purchased in 2006 under Blackstone.
Heide Park Resort	Soltau, Lower Saxony, Germany	1978	2007	Operator; Acquired in Tussauds Group deal.
Thorpe Park	Chertsey, Surrey, UK	1979	2007	Operator; Acquired in Tussauds Group deal.

Name	Location	Year Opened	Year Acquired	Notes
Legoland Billund Resort	Billund, Denmark	1968	2005	Acquired in Blackstone deal.
Legoland California Resort	Carlsbad, California, U.S.	1999	2005	Acquired in Blackstone deal.
Legoland Deutschland Resort	Günzburg, Germany	2002	2005	Acquired in Blackstone deal.
Legoland Dubai	Jebel Ali, Dubai, United Arab Emirates	2016	-	Opened as part of the Dubai Parks and Resorts development in Jebel Ali.
Legoland Florida Resort	Winter Haven, Florida, U.S.	2011	2011	Cypress Gardens acquired and rebranded.
Legoland Japan Resort	Nagoya, Japan	2017	-	New-build theme park.
Legoland Korea Resort	Chuncheon, South Korea	2022	-	New-build theme park.
Legoland Malaysia Resort	Johor Bahru, Malaysia	2012	-	New-build theme park.
Legoland New York Resort	Goshen, New York, U.S.	2021	-	New-build theme park.
Legoland Windsor Resort	Windsor, UK	1996	2005	Acquired in Blackstone deal.

Name	Location	Year Opened	Year Acquired	Notes
Peppa Pig Theme Park Florida	Winter Haven, Florida	2022	-	New-build theme park.
Peppa Pig Theme Park Dallas-Fort Worth	Frisco, Texas	2024[27]	-	New-build theme park.
Peppa Pig Park Günzburg	Günzburg, Bavaria	2024[28]	-	New-build theme park.

Name	Location(s)	Year Opened	Year Acquired	Notes
Australian Treetop Adventures	Australia	2005	2010	Canopy walkways acquired in MFS Living and Leisure deal
Blackpool Tower Circus	Blackpool, UK	1894	2011
Sandcastle Waterpark	Blackpool, UK	1986	2022	Operation from Autumn 2022
Cadbury World	Birmingham, UK	1990	2022	Operation and brand licences from summer 2023
The Bear Grylls Adventure	Birmingham, UK	2018
The Dungeons	Alton Towers Blackpool London Warwick York Edinburgh Berlin Hamburg Amsterdam Shanghai	2019 2011 1974 - 1986 2000 2013 2000 2005	1992
Eye Brand	Blackpool London Sydney Orlando	1894 2000 1981 2015	2011 2007 2011 2024
DreamWorks Tours: Shrek's Adventure!	London	2015	-	Uses characters from the Shrek franchise, licensed from DreamWorks Animation.
LEGOLAND Discovery Centres	Birmingham at Arena Birmingham Manchester at the Trafford Centre Berlin at the Sony Center Oberhausen Phoenix at Arizona Mills Atlanta at Phipps Plaza Bay Area (San Jose) at Great Mall of the Bay Area Boston ChicagoatThe Streets of Woodfield Columbus at Easton Town Center Dallas Fort WorthatGrapevine Mills Kansas CityatCrown Center Michigan at the Great Lakes Crossing Outlets New Jersey at American Dream Meadowlands Philadelphia at the Plymouth Meeting Mall Westchester (New York)atWestchester's Ridge Hill WashingtonatSpringfield Town Center San Antonio at the Shops at Rivercenter Toronto at Vaughan Mills Melbourne at the Chadstone Shopping Centre Beijing Shanghai Shenyang Hong Kong Osaka Tokyo Istanbul Scheveningen Brussels[29]
Little Big City	Berlin, Germany Beijing, China	2017 2018
Madame Tussauds	London Blackpool Vienna Prague Istanbul Berlin Amsterdam Budapest Hollywood Las Vegas Nashville New York Orlando San Francisco Sydney Beijing Chongqing Shanghai Wuhan Hong Kong New Delhi Tokyo Singapore Bangkok Dubai
Peppa Pig World of Play	Shanghai Auburn Hills, Michigan Grapevine, Texas Chicago, Illinois Leidschendam	2018 2019 2019 2020 2022
Peter Rabbit: Explore and Play	Blackpool	2022
Sea Life	Birmingham Blackpool Brighton Great Yarmouth Castelnuovo del Garda Gweek Hunstanton Manchester London Scarborough Weymouth Loch Lomond Bray Blankenberge Berlin Hanover Königswinter Konstanz Munich Oberhausen Speyer Timmendorfer Strand Helsinki Jesolo The Hague Porto Benalmadena Istanbul Paris Arizona Orlando New Jersey San Antonio Melbourne Mooloolaba (Sunshine Coast) Sydney Auckland Shanghai Nagoya Iskandar Puteri Busan Bangkok
Warwick Castle	United Kingdom	1978	2007	Acquired in Tussauds Group merger.

Name	Location	Planned Opening Year
Legoland Shanghai Resort	Jinshan District, Shanghai, China	2025
Legoland Sichuan Resort	Chengdu, Sichuan, China	2025
Legoland Beijing Resort	Fangshan District, Beijing, China	2024
Legoland Shenzhen Resort	Shenzhen, China	2026
Legoland Discovery Centres	Hamburg, Germany	2024

Name	Location	Year Opened	Year Acquired	Fate	Year Closed/Sold	Notes
Abenteuer Park Oberhausen	Oberhausen, Germany	1996	2011	Closed	2015	Formerly known as CentrO.Park (1996–2011) & Sea Life Abenteuer Park (2013)
Earth Explorer	Ostend, Belgium	2004	-	Sold	2013
Falls Creek ski resort	Victoria, Australia	1946	2011	Sold	2019	Acquired in MFS Living and Leisure deal, sold to Vail Resorts in 2019.
Hotham Alpine Resort	Victoria, Australia	1925	2011	Sold	2019	Ski resort acquired in MFS Living and Leisure deal, sold to Vail Resorts in 2019.
Legoland Discovery Centre Duisburg	Duisburg, Germany	2007	-	Closed	2013	Moved to Oberhausen after a few years.
Legoland Discovery Centre Hotham	Mt Hotham, AZ at Hotham Alpine Resort	2018	-	Closed	2018
London Planetarium	London	1958	2007	Closed	2010	Acquired in Tussauds Group deal as it shares the same site as Madame Tussauds London. Closed and the space is now used by Madame Tussauds London for exhibitions & other attractions.
Madame Tussauds Washington DC	Washington D.C.	2007	-	Closed	2021[30]	Closed since 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The San Francisco Dungeon	San Francisco	2014	-	Closed	2022[31]	Closed since 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The Wheel at ICON Park Orlando	Orlando	2015	-	Sold	2018	Opened as the Orlando Eye; Operations were reverted to the owner and Rebranded in 2018.
Sea Life Hastings	Hastings, England	2008	-	Sold	2012	Now belongs to the Blue Reef Aquarium chain.
Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary	Oban, Scotland	1979	-	Closed	2018
Sea Life St. Andrews	St. Andrews, Scotland	1999	TBA	Sold	TBA	Now operates as the St. Andrews Aquarium.
Manly Sea Life Sanctuary	Manly, Australia	1965	2010	Closed	2018[32]
Sea Life Bray Aquarium	Bray, Ireland	1998	-	Closed	2023	-

Name	Location	Year Planned To Open	Year Cancelled	Notes
Legoland Belgium	Gosselies, Belgium	2027	2023	Was planned to be built on the former site of Caterpillar's Gosselies factory and to be opened in 2027,[33] but the project was cancelled on 24 March 2023.[34]

In February 2016, Merlin purchased a 15% shareholding in Big Bus Tours.

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