Cedar Fair looks for Buyer

[cellarhound]

Cedar Fair looks for Buyer?

July, 9, 2007

There was a report in the New York Post that is gaining credibility in the business community that Cedar Fair (owner of Knotts Berry Farm and Paramount Parks) is looking at Private Equity firms for a buy out... However it is unclear if this is true, or if the details are accurate...

So far the idea has captured the imagination of some analysts: plus Reuters is reporting it and Motley Fool has posted a reaction... Since purchasing Paramount Parks for a mountain of cash which had the very profitable company swallow nearly 2 billion in debt, the company is looking a bit stagnant in it's financial books.

Are they looking for a buy out? Or are they looking to see if they can shed some of fat like Six Flags has recently? Or is this merely a rumor on the successful IPO, Blackstone who owns Legoland Theme Parks and an interest in Universal, Orlando? One only can speculate...

More on this story at Reuters or at Motley Fool.

[sir clinksalot]

Here is the NY Post article. Interesting stuff.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/07092007...ter_lauria.htm

[FrumiousBoojum]

I'll buy it if they take about 9 zeros off of the $4billion price...

I find it odd that they'd want to sell only if the buyer would keep all of the management. On one hand, they're trying to save their jobs and they also know the parks better than the buyer would. On the other hand, if they're selling due to a problem making the money to get out of debt, why would any buyer want to keep them? Why not replace with somebody that's not going to put them into so much debt?