Merlin Entertainments

Merlin Entertainments Limited is a global entertainment company based in London, England, which operates a number of theme park resorts and other visitor attractions. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until November 2019. It was then privately acquired by the consortium Motion JVCO Ltd, which includes Kirkbi (the investment arm of the Kristiansen family that also controls the Lego Group and BrainPop).

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.

In May 2005, the company was acquired from Hermes by a division of the Blackstone Group, which later started a major expansion. Between 2005 and 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.

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. As part of the deal, Kirkbi A/S, the investment arm of LEGO's owners, took a share in Merlin Entertainments.

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. 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.

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 35-year leaseback agreement.

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.

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. On 3 March 2011, the deal was finalised. 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.

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 – 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.

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.

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.

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. The takeover was approved by the high court in November 2019.

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.

In March 2023, Merlin cancelled a new Legoland resort in Belgium, which had been planned to open in 2027 on the former site of Caterpillar's factory in Gosselies. By the end of 2024, both Little Big City sites in Berlin and Beijing and the Bear Grylls Adventure in Birmingham, UK were closed.

In November of 2024, Merlin entered a $110 million dollar theme park deal with Microsoft, the owners of video game developer Mojang. This deal included themed rides, attractions, hotels, and retail outlets themed after the popular video game Minecraft.

O'Neil left the company at the end of 2024, with Chief Operating Officer, Fiona Eastwood, taking over as CEO. 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.

In 2025, it was revealed that Merlin were looking to sell many of its Sea Life Centres, but failed to find an attractive offer. In June, it was also announced that the majority of Merlin's Blackpool attractions would be taken over by Blackpool Council through their in-house tourism company Blackpool Tourism Limited. This included the Blackpool Tower, Blackpool Dungeon and Madame Tussauds Blackpool. In September, it was announced that Merlin was to sell its Lego Discovery Centres to the Lego Group, also a part-owned subsidiary of Kirkbi, with an estimated cash consideration of £200 million. The sale was completed on 27 February 2026.

Properties

Resort theme parks

LEGOLAND parks

Peppa Pig parks (co-products with Hasbro )

Gateway attractions

Future locations

Former locations

External links