SeaWorld Adventure Parks going public; announces intent for IPO

[Exprmnt626]

SeaWorld Entertainment Files for IPO - WSJ.com

Looks like they wanna raise 5-700 million. A good move for Blackstone, as I can't really see any companies on the horizon willing to pony up that kind of cash.

[KingEric]

This was always part of the plan when Blackstone bought them. Should be good overall.

[mratigan]

exciting
the best time to be a theme park fan is now

[fifthrider]

Isn't there a danger inherent with this plan? Now there will be investors, investors will want profit even during the bad times, corners will be cut to assure profit, and corner-cutting rarely leads anywhere good. ( Safety issues, even ) I would have thought the benefit of a privately owned company is that they are NOT accountable to investors and therefore could weather the bad times as simply "We'll make it up next quarter." I work for a privately owned company of about 8,000 people and that's the way we deal with it. If we went public there would be corners cut to appease the investors to the point that productivity would be hurt.

[jsmith11618]

Isn't there a danger inherent with this plan? Now there will be investors, investors will want profit even during the bad times, corners will be cut to assure profit, and corner-cutting rarely leads anywhere good. ( Safety issues, even ) I would have thought the benefit of a privately owned company is that they are NOT accountable to investors and therefore could weather the bad times as simply "We'll make it up next quarter." I work for a privately owned company of about 8,000 people and that's the way we deal with it. If we went public there would be corners cut to appease the investors to the point that productivity would be hurt.

In this case it appears Blackstone will retain majority voting shares.

"After the completion of this offering, Blackstone affiliates will continue to own a majority of the voting power of all outstanding shares of the common stock, SeaWorld said in the filing."

This kind of surprised me if true, seems like tiny profit to me...?

"SeaWorld earned about $19.1 million on revenue of $1.33 billion in 2011."

Blackstone's SeaWorld files for $100 million IPO | Reuters

[gurgi]

It is hard for SeaWorld to retain any semblance of a research facility if they go public and are beholden to shareholders. I know Zoos aren't public. Sure, they want money and are not non-profit for sure, but they are usually (I haven't looked at all zoos) privately owned and operated, or are run by a larger, private organization. It helps to make sure they are providing for the animals first, and the public second. With SeaWorld, it will be hard to maintain that they're in it for the animals. Although...they kind of haven't been for a while now anyway, with all of the rides they've added.

[KingEric]

Well I believe that their rescue, rehabilitation and research are all considered tax write offs, and hopefully as they become public they can retain this portion of their business. I believe it is Blackstones intent to make this portion of their business a focal point. We can look to the TV Show "Sea Rescue" for cues on how Blackstone plans to continue that branch of the company.

[fifthrider]

In this case it appears Blackstone will retain majority voting shares.

Ah, thank you.

Thank you Gurgi and King Eric as well. That does tend to explain it a bit better. Here's hoping the move doesn't cause the rescue part of the operation to wane. I wish them well.

[princecharming]

reported 1/3/2013 via fox business and reuters new service: Sea world entertainment is in talks with several private equity firms to sell the company outright instead of doing the IPO. I think Blackstone is looking at which would get them more cash. Blackstone has owned the parks since 2008 and in the last four years have recouped 70 percent of their initial investment in the company. The reason they were going to take part of the company public was to get the remaining 30. They wanted to get their money back in 5 years. Blackstone has done this with many of their properties, including Hilton hotels.

[KingEric]

Yeah I am very curious who wants to buy Seaworld, because the normal players are not in a position to buy.

[Dutchman]

From Reuters today Apollo, Six Flags explore SeaWorld buyout: sources | Reuters

[mratigan]

also six flags................

[seafaring_ghost]

whatever they do,I hope Six Flags doesn't get a hold of it... just look at how they ran the Ohio property.

[Dutchman]

Frankly either one of them are bad news. Let's not forget the aborted attempt by Apollo to take over Cedar Fair. The unitholders shot that down in a hurry.

[Coasterjunkie]

I just hope Six Flags or Apollo doesn't buy them out.