The equity funding is to be provided by the Candover 2005 Fund, the €3.5bn vehicle that closed in November 2005. A significant minority holding is also being taken by
Marek Gumienny, managing director of Candover, said: “Parques Reunidos is a unique business led by an impressive management team. The Group’s parks are well invested and among the finest in Europe. Over recent years, Richard and his team have delivered significant growth in revenues and EBITDA. This has been achieved by their proven strategy to operate well established, regional, individually branded attraction parks and identify further parks to complement the portfolio.”
Advent invested in the Madrid-headquartered business in December 2003, paying €240m in Spain’s first ever public-to-private deal. At the time it operated 14 parks in Spain. This has expanded to 22 parks in the four leisure industry segments (theme-amusement, nature and wildlife, water and cable railway) across Spain, Belgium, Norway, France and Italy, and, outside Europe, in Argentina. Revenues have more than doubled in the last three years, rising from €85m in 2003, to €193.6m at the end of 2006.
Since the entry of Advent International in Parques Reunidos, €224m has been invested to acquire new parks, and €42m for the improvement of infrastructure and facilities.