Merlin Entertainments

Merlin Entertainments Limited is a global entertainment company based in London, England, which operates a number of theme parks and other visitor 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).

Merlin Entertainments Limited

Formerly	Merlin Entertainments Group Ltd. (1998–2013) Merlin Entertainments PLC (2013–2019)
Company type	Private[1]
Industry	Entertainment
Founded	14 December 1998; 26 years ago (1998-12-14)
Headquarters	London , England
Key people	Fiona Eastwood (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

History

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. Between 2005-2010, Merlin acquired the Legoland parks, Gardaland, The Tussauds Group, Cypress Gardens, and various attractions from Village Roadshow Theme Parks and Living and Leisure Australia. The company was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2013 but returned to private ownership in 2019.^[5]

Major Acquisitions (2005-2012)

After the sale of Merlin to Blackstone Group, the company negotiated to buy control of the Legoland theme parks 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 2006, Merlin acquired Gardaland theme park resort in northeastern Italy.

In May 2007, Blackstone purchased The Tussauds Group, owner of the Madame Tussauds wax museums, for US$1.9 billion, to merge the company with 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 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. 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.^[15] On 3 March 2011, the deal was finalised.^[16] 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.^[17][18]

Public Listing (2013-2019)

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^[19] – 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.^[20]

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.^[21]

In 2015, the company opened the Orlando Eye Ferris wheel attraction in Orlando. It then sold the wheel in 2018 but 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.^[22]

Return to Private Ownership (2019–present)

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.^[23] The takeover was approved by the high court in November 2019.^[24]

Merlin opened its first Peppa Pig Theme Park in Winter Haven, Florida in 2022, with future sites planned for Texas and Günzburg, Germany.

Nick Varney left the company at the end of 2022, along with longtime Chief Development Officer, Mark Fisher. Varney was replaced by Scott O'Neil, who arrived from a media and sports management background. ^[25]

By the end of 2024, both Little Big City sites in Berlin and Beijing and the Bear Grylls Adventure in Birmingham, UK were closed.^[26]

O'Neil left the company at the end of 2024, with Chief Operating Officer, Fiona Eastwood, taking over as CEO.^[27] At the same time, the company began a group-wide restructuring to merge its Resort Theme Parks, Legoland Parks and Gateway Attractions divisions on a regional basis, which Merlin stated would bring them into "one united business" going forwards.^[28]

In February 2025, it was revealed that Merlin were considering selling many of its Sea Life Centres.^[29]

Properties

Resort theme parks

Name	Location	Year Opened	Year Acquired	Notes
Alton Towers Resort	Staffordshire, UK	1860	2007	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.
Chessington World of Adventures Resort	Chessington, Greater London, UK	1987	2007	Owner and operator; Acquired in Tussauds Group deal.

LEGOLAND parks

Name	Location	Year Opened	Year Acquired	Notes
Legoland Billund Resort	Billund, Denmark	1968	2005	Acquired in Blackstone deal.
Legoland Windsor Resort	Windsor, UK	1996	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 Florida Resort	Winter Haven, Florida, U.S.	2011	2010	Cypress Gardens acquired and rebranded.
Legoland Malaysia Resort	Johor Bahru, Malaysia	2012	-	New-build theme park.
Legoland Dubai	Jebel Ali, Dubai, United Arab Emirates	2016	-	Opened as part of the Dubai Parks and Resorts development in Jebel Ali.
Legoland Japan Resort	Nagoya, Japan	2017	-	New-build theme park.
Legoland New York Resort	Goshen, New York, U.S.	2021	-	New-build theme park.
Legoland Korea Resort	Chuncheon, South Korea	2022	-	New-build theme park.

Peppa Pig parks

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	North Richland Hills, Texas	2025[30]	-	New-build theme park.
Peppa Pig Park Günzburg	Günzburg, Bavaria	2024[31]	-	New-build theme park.

Gateway attractions

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
Cadbury World	Birmingham, UK	1990	2022	Operation and brand licences from summer 2023
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 Hamburg Oberhausen Phoenix at Arizona Mills Atlanta at Phipps Plaza Bay Area (San Jose) at Great Mall of the Bay Area Boston Chicago at The Streets of Woodfield Columbus at Easton Town Center Dallas Fort Worth at Grapevine Mills Kansas City at Crown Center Michigan at the Great Lakes Crossing Outlets New Jersey at American Dream Meadowlands Philadelphia at the Plymouth Meeting Mall Westchester (New York) at Westchester's Ridge Hill Washington at Springfield 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[32]
Madame Tussauds	London Blackpool Vienna Prague Istanbul Berlin Amsterdam Budapest Hollywood Las Vegas Nashville New York Orlando 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.

Future locations

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	TBA
Legoland Shenzhen Resort	Shenzhen, China	2026

Former locations

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)
The Bear Grylls Adventure	Birmingham, UK	2018		Closed	2024
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.
Little Big City	Berlin, Germany Beijing, China	2017 2018		Closed	2024
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 San Francisco	San Francisco	2014	-	Closed	2024
Madame Tussauds Washington DC	Washington D.C.	2007	-	Closed	2021[33]	Closed since 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The San Francisco Dungeon	San Francisco	2014	-	Closed	2022[34]	Closed since 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
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[35]
Sea Life Bray Aquarium	Bray, Ireland	1998	-	Closed	2023	-

Cancelled locations

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,[36] but the project was cancelled on 24 March 2023.[37]

References

1. "Merlin Entertainments Limited". Companies House. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
2. "Preliminary Results 2018". Merlin Entertainments. Retrieved 18 March 2019.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
3. "Blackstone Acquires Merlin Entertainment". blackstone.com. 23 May 2005. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
4. "Blackstone Acquires Merlin Entertainment". Blackstone.com. 23 May 2005. Archived from the original on 30 October 2017. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
5. "Merlin Entertainments Group acquires Italy's Gardaland". Coaster Buzz. 16 October 2006. Archived from the original on 5 April 2016. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
6. "Troubled Lego sells theme parks". BBC News. 13 July 2005. Archived from the original on 2 October 2017. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
7. "Why you shouldn't buy shares in Legoland owner Merlin Entertainment". The Daily Telegraph. London. 30 October 2013. Archived from the original on 27 March 2015. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
8. "Tour Legoland California". CaliforniaResortLife.com. Archived from the original on 5 February 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
9. "Merlin conjures up leaseback deal". The Daily Telegraph. London. 18 July 2007. Archived from the original on 14 November 2017. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
10. "Blackstone Buys Madame Tussauds Chain". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 20 September 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
11. King of Capital, p. 313.
12. "Tussauds firm bought in £1bn deal". BBC News. 5 March 2007. Archived from the original on 5 December 2008. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
13. "Alton Towers sold in £622m deal". BBC News. 17 July 2007. Archived from the original on 23 August 2007. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
14. "Cypress Gardens Sold to Legoland". 15 January 2010. Archived from the original on 17 January 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2010.
15. "Village Roadshow sells Sydney Attractions". The Sydney Morning Herald. Australian Associated Press. 17 December 2010. Archived from the original on 20 December 2010. Retrieved 17 December 2010.
16. "Plans for a Madame Tussauds in Sydney". The Sydney Morning Herald. Australian Associated Press. 3 March 2011. Archived from the original on 7 March 2011. Retrieved 12 March 2011.
17. Ooi, Teresa (20 December 2011). "Merlin Entertainments Group conjures $140m James Packer bid". The Australian. Archived from the original on 27 December 2011. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
18. Danckert, Sarah (13 February 2012). "Merlin ready to wrap up Living and Leisure deal". The Australian. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
19. CVC Capital Partners press release^{[dead link‍]}, 24 June 2010.
20. King of Capital, p. 314.
21. Why you shouldn't buy shares in Legoland owner Merlin Entertainment Archived 27 March 2015 at the Wayback Machine The Daily Telegraph, 30 October 2013
22. "Legoland and Alton Towers owner Merlin Entertainments waves goodbye to SeaWorld deal | City A.M". City A.M. 11 October 2017. Archived from the original on 1 February 2018. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
23. "Legoland owner Merlin Entertainments agrees £4.8bn offer". BBC News. 28 June 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
24. "Court approves deal for Merlin Entertainments". Insider Media. 1 November 2019. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
25. "Merlin Entertainments appoints Scott M. O'Neil Chief Executive Officer". Merlin Entertainments. 14 November 2022. Retrieved 14 February 2025.
26. "Bear Grylls-inspired activity centre to close". BBC News. 11 December 2024. Retrieved 17 February 2025.
27. "Merlin Entertainments Appoints Fiona Eastwood as Chief Executive Officer". Merlin Entertainments. 17 February 2025. Retrieved 17 February 2025.
28. "Merlin Entertainments issues statement over Warwick Castle operations". Coventry Live. 30 January 2025. Retrieved 14 February 2025.
29. "Merlin reportedly exploring sale of some Sea Life aquariums". Blooloop. 14 February 2025. Retrieved 14 February 2025.
30. "Peppa Pig Theme Park Dallas Ft Worth".
31. "Germany to get Europe's first stand-alone Peppa Pig Theme Park". 30 June 2023.
32. "Merlin to take Legoland Discovery Centres to Belgium with deal for Brussels site | attractionsmanagement.com news". attractionsmanagement.com/. 30 August 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
33. "Madame Tussauds aims to sublease D.C. wax museum". bizjournals.com. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
34. "The 'San Francisco Dungeon' at Fisherman's Wharf Has Spooked Its Last Tourist". SFist – San Francisco News, Restaurants, Events, & Sports. 14 February 2022. Archived from the original on 11 March 2022. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
35. "Manly Sea Life Sanctuary closes its doors after 55 years". The Sydney Morning Herald. 28 January 2018. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
36. "Un parc d'attractions Legoland à l'horizon 2027 sur le site Caterpillar à Charleroi". RTBF (in French). Retrieved 30 August 2022.
37. "Merlin renonce à construire un parc Legoland à Charleroi" (in French). L'Echo. 24 March 2023.

External links

• Official website