Merlin Entertainments Deal With Village Roadshow Completes
The deal announced in December 2010 by Merlin Entertainments Group (‘Merlin’) to acquire the Sydney Attractions Group and Kelly Tarlton’s Underwater World from Village Roadshow (‘VRL’) was completed today, 3 March 2011.
The deal announced in December 2010 by Merlin Entertainments Group (‘Merlin’) to acquire the Sydney Attractions Group and Kelly Tarlton’s Underwater World from Village Roadshow (‘VRL’) was completed today, 3 March 2011.
Merlin’s first entry into the Australian and New Zealand markets is at the highest level. The deal includes Sydney’s top three tourist attractions – Sydney Aquarium, Sydney Wildlife World and the Sydney Tower Observatory and Skywalk, as well as Manly Oceanworld in Sydney, the Hamilton Island Wildlife Park in Queensland and Kelly Tarlton’s Antarctic Encounter and Underwater World in Auckland, New Zealand.
Committed to a multi-million dollar investment programme for the six attractions, Merlin will draw on experience gained from running global brands such as SEA LIFE, the world’s biggest aquarium brand and their observation ‘Eye’ attractions, to optimise their potential. More than that, plans are also underway for the development of another of the company’s global attractions in Sydney, Madame Tussauds, in 2012.
The group already has established Madame Tussauds attractions in Hong Kong, Shanghai and most recently Bangkok and will also be opening a major LEGOLAND Park in Malaysia in 2012. The entry into Australia and New Zealand will further strengthen Merlin’s position in the wider Asia Pacific region.
The company has appointed Edward Fuller as Divisional Director to manage the new Australia/New Zealand ‘midway’ division. Edward was previously General Manager of Madame Tussauds in London and he will work with the attraction teams and other Merlin colleagues to ensure a smooth changeover.
Commenting he said, “These are exciting attractions with enormous potential. They are well established and of a very high quality, and I believe will benefit greatly by being part of the Merlin ‘family’. Most of all, even in my short time getting to know them, my colleagues and I have been very impressed by the operating teams who are knowledgeable and passionate about their businesses and I am sure that we have a lot to learn from one another.”
Merlin Entertainments CEO Nick Varney reinforced his comments made at the time of the initial announcement: “Sydney is one of the world’s leading cities and these are iconic, well established tourist attractions with plenty of potential for future growth. Together with the businesses in Queensland and New Zealand they represent an excellent addition to our portfolio. Merlin also remains interested in buying further high quality visitor attraction assets in the wider Asia Pacific region and these will give us a perfect base on which to build.”