The toy giant Lego has recently reached a deal with Merlin Entertainment that will see the Danish company pay a huge $4.8bn to take over as owners of the UK-based attractions business.
Merlin, who currently operate Legoland’s location in Windsor and are the team behind Madame Tussauds, the London Eye and Alton Towers, among others, will now have Lego as a majority shareholder, putting them alongside the investment firm Kirkbi.
The team behind Lego’s new investment have stated that they are confident their resources can help Merlin grow substantially in the long-term and ensure continued success across all their attractions.
Merlin De-Listed
Perhaps one of the most significant parts of this agreement is that Merlin, which has been floating on the London Stock Exchange for six years, will be delisted in the coming weeks.
Earlier this week, the shareholder group ValueAct Capital, who own a 9% share in the company, encouraged private buyers to seek out the purchase of Merlin, putting investors on high-alert for a shake-up in this steady stock.
Under this new deal, Lego bought shares for approximately 455p per share and agreed to shoulder $1.2bn in debt for around $6bn of share capital.
But top shareholders from Merlin are feeling confident that this new partnership will bring prosperity to the company.
Major Shareholders In Unison
The Chairman of the entertainment group stated that the decision to recommend the deal to major shareholders had been ‘entirely unanimous’ and believes that its continuing growth will raise value in their investments over the longer term.
Merlin Entertainment is currently the second-largest operator of attractions globally, with around 130 parks in 25 countries, including the UK, USA and Australia.
In the UK alone, the company are behind theme parks like Alton Towers, Thorpe Park and Warwick Castle, as well as Madame Tussauds, the London Dungeons and The Bear Grylls Adventure.
The company has been struggling over the recent months, with profit dwindling due to a series of controversies- including the high profile crash at Alton Towers in 2015 that injured 16 people- and decreased interest in attractions. It hopes that this move from public to private will help the company focus on long-term investments and delivering better services across all sites.