Merlin Entertainments General Discussion

[Chris1]

I also believe that new signage is being made for the attractions.

Ok, not liking the sounds of that very much....

I like Thorpe's, Chessington's and Alton's just as they are.

I hope they don't change too much.......

[Adam]

[quote=""Chrïs""][quote=""*Adäm""][quote=""Dara""]Well not really I dont think.
Tussauds and Merlin are (for now) still going to operate as seperate companies. I really really hope that this is how it will continue. One effect of Merlin and Tussauds merging could be that Legoland and the Dungeons and Sealife Centres are included on the annual pass, and this will subsequently jack up the price.[/quote]

No, they are not separate company's. That is what was confirmed by this topic. Tussauds is no more. Tussauds IS Merlin now!

*Adäm x[/quote]

Except Madame Tussauds i'm guessing........

Or is that changing to Madame Merlin?

:P[/quote]

No, it will be keeping the name. Madame Tussauds is named after the person who founded and invented the idea. The Tussauds Group was named after this person, not the other way around, therefore Madame Tussauds will remain the same.

*Adäm x

[leejay]

[quote=""Chrïs""]

I also believe that new signage is being made for the attractions.

Ok, not liking the sounds of that very much....

I like Thorpe's, Chessington's and Alton's just as they are.

I hope they don't change too much.......

[/quote]

I think that means they are making new signs without tussauds on the top of each attraction name. Not the logo themselves! No need to panic

[TenZero]

[quote=""Scary""]I've heard lots of rumours about the annual pass and one of them was a pick and mix type deal where you pick the attractions you want, but nothing has been decided about this yet.
[/quote]

I really hope this happens, it would be awesome!

[Scary]

Sorry, yeah I meant new signs without the Tussaud's name, Merlin aren't changing the parks logos.

[Chris1]

[quote=""leejay""][quote=""Chrïs""]

I also believe that new signage is being made for the attractions.

Ok, not liking the sounds of that very much....

I like Thorpe's, Chessington's and Alton's just as they are.

I hope they don't change too much.......

[/quote]

I think that means they are making new signs without tussauds on the top of each attraction name. Not the logo themselves! No need to panic [/quote]

I flippin hope so.....

To be honest I really doubt things are going to improve with Merlin, they've not bought Alton Towers and the other parks just to make us fanboys happy again, they've seen the financial opportunities within the parks and probably intend to squeeze every penny out of them......

[Dr Pop Rocket]

Just been picking up today some news that Merlin have negociated a Sale and Leaseback plan for the Tussauds parks. Basically in a nutshell they will receive a payment from a land investment company for the land the parks sit on and then will pay a regular 'lease' payment for the use of the land.

No news yet as to whether this is just the land or some of the buildings/attractions as well.

Word is that it has been arranged to wipe out the historic Tussauds debts once and for all. Now that on the surface can be seen as a positive as the repayment of the debts has often been cited as the reson behind the incessant profiteering and dissapointing developments but now the parks will have an 'additional operating cost' which they will have to absorb.

Will it be good news.....only time will tell but most big retail and service industries in the UK have already gone down this path with comprehensive Sale and Leaseback agreements for its valuable land and buildings.

That was quoted off another forum, who had quoted it from another forum, so it's a very hand me down source, but certainly interesting, I'm not quite sure what to make of this...

[Leonardofury]

Tha only question is can the land owners refuse to renew the lease if this happens. Lets say the landleasing company decided they could make more money by demolishing Alton and selling the land for houses, could they potentially decide not to allow Merlin to renew the lease, and order them to remove the rides from their property?

[Green.Wing]

Well its will be very much like your home. The bank lend you money and they own your house. So you make payments and pay back what you need to. However as long as you make your payments the bank cannot sell or get you out of the house.

SO in other words as long as the payments are made. Melin still own the land and the park. If they dont pay the company CAN take control.

[haydn!]

[quote=""Green.Wing""]Well its will be very much like your home. The bank lend you money and they own your house. So you make payments and pay back what you need to. However as long as you make your payments the bank cannot sell or get you out of the house.

SO in other words as long as the payments are made. Melin still own the land and the park. If they dont pay the company CAN take control.[/quote]

I think that is pretty much how it would work and no doubt there are a couple of clauses in the contracts which say the landowners must keep the land in its current form for the first 100 years, and Merlin must be given the opportunity at regular intevals to buy back the land at full value every 10 years or something.

Though they've cited the Tussauds debts as the swaying hand behind this decision surely they're no better off? They're swapping debt repayments for land rent - where is the difference?

[Craig]

Major companies often do this to clear debts. For example, the company I work for did a leaseback on the whole site which they occupy (6 buildings) a while ago. The contracts are very complex, including minimum lease periods and preference when the lease is up for renewal. The lease periods differ, sometimes only 6 years, then renewing after that, others anything up to 100 years plus.

It's also an ideal time to do it. With land and property prices being so high lately, Merlin would no doubt make a tidy sum out of it too. It definitely makes business sense to do it if they feel they're unable to shift the debts in a reasonable timeframe, it probably has more pros than cons with Merlin being in the position they're in, having to take of Tussaud's debts.

As others have mentioned, it's similar to remortgaging a house. You sell the property/land and the company who bought it become your landlords. No doubt people will have seen the explosion of adverts recently stating "we'll buy your house and you can live in it as long as you like". It's been around for ages, just more focussed on businesses, but now home owners are also been targetted as it's becoming the new "in" thing to do for extra cash to pay off debts.

[Kaz]

Merlin Entertainment Group, the owner of Madame Tussauds and the London Eye, is to examine a stock market flotation that could propel it into the FTSE 100 as soon as next year.

Nick Varney, the chief executive of Britain's biggest visitor attractions operator, told The Daily Telegraph that a listing was an inevitable exit route for the group's private-equity backers, Blackstone and Dubai International Capital.

"We will have a look at it at the end of next year, although I imagine it is more likely to be in 2009," he said.

The recently enlarged Merlin made £200m in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization in its last financial year.

With listed peers trading at around 10 times Ebitda, five new Merlin sites expected to open annually and further potential acquisitions in the pipeline, Mr Varney believes that the group could command a valuation of around £3bn, which could hand it an automatic place in the FTSE 100.

Mr Varney was speaking during a visit to Merlin's Madame Tussauds site in Hong Kong. Merlin, which is majority-owned by Blackstone, runs attractions such as Legoland, Sea Life and Alton Towers.

Since its merger with Tussauds Group earlier this year it boasts 30m visitors annually.

The company is now the world's second-largest theme parks operator, behind The Walt Disney Company. It also owns Italy's Gardaland business.

Mr Varney believes that an eventual listing of Merlin would allow the company to properly reward its 13,000 staff.

"It is much easier to give employees a stake in the company through a sharesave scheme than when it is owned by private equity," he said.

Mr Varney added that Merlin was keen to build replicas of the London Eye in other countries.

It’s great that Merlin want to push towards the FTSE 100 although building replicas of the London Eye im not to keen on. The London Eye is a unique attraction that has become a modern symbol of the nation, to go and clone it would be criminal. It may be good for them business wise but it’s such a shame London could loose the originality of the wheel.

What are the general views on the news?

Kaz

[Green.Wing]

I think its a good idea to expand the eye idea to other countries.

Mardrid would be amazing to see the city from that high up. Paris would be a waste of time due to the tower. But countrys where there are not so high buildings to view the skyline would be great.

Melin do have big plans and no doubt want to make a massive impact on the world. I think by wiping the debts of the perious company (Tussauds) by a land lease was one of the best moves they have made. A fresh start and also meaning they can free up money for investment in all areas.

[Mankey]

They cant do that... its like a landmark for us! thats like cloning the statue of liberty! or the leaning tower of pisa!!

well done merlin... you're now in my bad books...

^^ Chris ^^

[Andrew M]

Hah! Calm down all. It's a business, and it's a great thing for tourism. It's not like a patented idea - the London Eye is NOT the only wheel in the world. I mean, calm down, is Big Ben, Westminster and Tower of London etc not enough? I don't get how the London Eye is a traditional sightseeing place?

[Ash]

Well this is good news, looks like there getting rid of these cling on investors sucking the company for profits

"Go away DIC and Blackstone, boo hiss boo!"

This can only be good news.

[Wes]

I would personally like to see what they have got planned for the ones we love

[AstroDan]

Forget the bleeding Eye!

I hope they want to expand and push the Towers of Pleasure beyond the realms of our wildest dreams!

[Redcoat Jase]

More acquisitions in the pipeline! How exciting does that sound!

I'm really pleased that Merlin has bought Tussauds. The company might have a crappy name and logo, but it can't be that bad if it's second only to Disney! - Alls we need now is Disney-style attractions!

[Mi-Nigle]

What's FTSE 100?