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 A/S (the investment arm of the Kristiansen family that also controls the Lego Group).

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 2005-2010, 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.

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

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 February 2025, it was revealed that Merlin were considering selling many of its Sea Life Centres. In June, it was also announced that the majority of Merlin's attractions in Blackpool would hand operations back to Blackpool Council from August, including the Blackpool Tower, Blackpool Dungeon and Madame Tussauds Blackpool.

Properties

Resort theme parks

Name	Location	Year Opened	Year Acquired	Notes
Alton Towers Resort	Template:Flagicon Staffordshire, UK	1860	2007	Operator; Acquired in Tussauds Group deal.
Gardaland Resort	Template:Flagicon Castelnuovo del Garda, Italy	1975	2006	Owner and operator; Purchased in 2006 under Blackstone.
Heide Park Resort	Template:Flagicon Soltau, Lower Saxony, Germany	1978	2007	Operator; Acquired in Tussauds Group deal.
Thorpe Park	Template:Flagicon Chertsey, Surrey, UK	1979	2007	Operator; Acquired in Tussauds Group deal.
Chessington World of Adventures Resort	Template:Flagicon 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	Template:Flagicon Billund, Denmark	1968	2005	Acquired in Blackstone deal.
Legoland Windsor Resort	Template:Flagicon Windsor, UK	1996	2005	Acquired in Blackstone deal.
Legoland California Resort	Template:Flagicon Carlsbad, California, U.S.	1999	2005	Acquired in Blackstone deal.
Legoland Deutschland Resort	Template:Flagicon Günzburg, Germany	2002	2005	Acquired in Blackstone deal.
Legoland Florida Resort	Template:Flagicon Winter Haven, Florida, U.S.	2011		Formerly Cypress Gardens.
Legoland Malaysia Resort	Template:Flagicon Johor Bahru, Malaysia	2012	-	New-build theme park.
Legoland Dubai	Template:Flagicon Jebel Ali, Dubai, United Arab Emirates	2016	-	Franchised to Dubai Parks and Resorts
Legoland Japan Resort	Template:Flagicon Nagoya, Japan	2017	-	New-build theme park.
Legoland New York Resort	Template:Flagicon Goshen, New York, U.S.	2021	-	New-build theme park.
Legoland Korea Resort	Template:Flagicon Chuncheon, South Korea	2022	-	New-build theme park.

Peppa Pig parks

Name	Location	Year Opened	Year Acquired	Notes
Peppa Pig Theme Park Florida	Template:Flagicon Winter Haven, Florida	2022	-	New-build theme park.
Peppa Pig Park Günzburg	Template:Flagicon Günzburg, Bavaria	2024	-	New-build theme park.
Peppa Pig Theme Park Dallas-Fort Worth	Template:Flagicon North Richland Hills, Texas	2025	-	New-build theme park.

Gateway attractions

Name	Location(s)	Year Opened	Year Acquired	Notes
Australian Treetop Adventures	Template:Flagicon Australia	2005	2010	Canopy walkways acquired in MFS Living and Leisure deal
Blackpool Tower Circus	Template:Flagicon Blackpool, UK	1894	2011
Cadbury World	Template:Flagicon Birmingham, UK	1990	2022	Operation and brand licences from summer 2023
The Dungeons	Template:Flagicon Alton Towers Template:Flagicon Blackpool Template:Flagicon London Template:Flagicon Warwick Template:Flagicon York Template:Flagicon Edinburgh Template:Flagicon Berlin Template:Flagicon Hamburg Template:Flagicon Amsterdam Template:Flagicon Shanghai	2019 2011 1974 - 1986 2000 2013 2000 2005	1992
Eye Brand	Template:Flagicon Blackpool Template:Flagicon London Template:Flagicon Sydney Template:Flagicon Orlando	1894 2000 1981 2015	2011 2007 2011 2024
The Gruffalo & Friends Clubhouse	Template:Flagicon Blackpool	2023
DreamWorks Tours: Shrek's Adventure!	Template:Flagicon London	2015	-	Uses characters from the Shrek franchise, licensed from DreamWorks Animation.
LEGOLAND Discovery Centres	Template:Flagicon Birmingham at Arena Birmingham Template:Flagicon Manchester at the Trafford Centre Template:Flagicon Berlin at the Sony Center Template:Flagicon Hamburg Template:Flagicon Oberhausen Template:Flagicon Phoenix at Arizona Mills Template:Flagicon Atlanta at Phipps Plaza Template:Flagicon Bay Area (San Jose) at Great Mall of the Bay Area Template:Flagicon Boston Template:Flagicon Chicago at The Streets of Woodfield Template:Flagicon Columbus at Easton Town Center Template:Flagicon Dallas Fort Worth at Grapevine Mills Template:Flagicon Kansas City at Crown Center Template:Flagicon Michigan at the Great Lakes Crossing Outlets Template:Flagicon New Jersey at American Dream Meadowlands Template:Flagicon Philadelphia at the Plymouth Meeting Mall Template:Flagicon Westchester (New York) at Westchester's Ridge Hill Template:Flagicon Washington at Springfield Town Center Template:Flagicon San Antonio at the Shops at Rivercenter Template:Flagicon Toronto at Vaughan Mills Template:Flagicon Melbourne at the Chadstone Shopping Centre Template:Flagicon Beijing Template:Flagicon Shanghai Template:Flagicon Shenyang Template:Flagicon Hong Kong Template:Flagicon Osaka Template:Flagicon Tokyo Template:Flagicon Istanbul Template:Flagicon Scheveningen Template:Flagicon Brussels
Madame Tussauds	Template:Flagicon London Template:Flagicon Blackpool Template:Flagicon Vienna Template:Flagicon Prague Template:Flagicon Istanbul Template:Flagicon Berlin Template:Flagicon Amsterdam Template:Flagicon Budapest Template:Flagicon Hollywood Template:Flagicon Las Vegas Template:Flagicon Nashville Template:Flagicon New York Template:Flagicon Orlando Template:Flagicon Sydney Template:Flagicon Beijing Template:Flagicon Chongqing Template:Flagicon Shanghai Template:Flagicon Wuhan Template:Flagicon Hong Kong Template:Flagicon New Delhi Template:Flagicon Tokyo Template:Flagicon Singapore Template:Flagicon Bangkok Template:Flagicon Dubai
Peppa Pig World of Play	Template:Flagicon Shanghai Template:Flagicon Auburn Hills, Michigan Template:Flagicon Grapevine, Texas Template:Flagicon Chicago, Illinois Template:Flagicon Leidschendam	2018 2019 2019 2020 2022
Peter Rabbit: Explore and Play	Template:Flagicon Blackpool	2022
Sea Life	Template:Flagicon Birmingham Template:Flagicon Blackpool Template:Flagicon Brighton Template:Flagicon Great Yarmouth Template:Flagicon Castelnuovo del Garda Template:Flagicon Gweek Template:Flagicon Hunstanton Template:Flagicon Manchester Template:Flagicon London Template:Flagicon Scarborough Template:Flagicon Weymouth Template:Flagicon Loch Lomond Template:Flagicon Blankenberge Template:Flagicon Berlin Template:Flagicon Hanover Template:Flagicon Königswinter Template:Flagicon Konstanz Template:Flagicon Munich Template:Flagicon Oberhausen Template:Flagicon Speyer Template:Flagicon Timmendorfer Strand Template:Flagicon Helsinki Template:Flagicon Jesolo Template:Flagicon The Hague Template:Flagicon Porto Template:Flagicon Benalmadena Template:Flagicon Istanbul Template:Flagicon Paris Template:Flagicon Arizona Template:Flagicon Orlando Template:Flagicon New Jersey Template:Flagicon San Antonio Template:Flagicon Melbourne Template:Flagicon Mooloolaba (Sunshine Coast) Template:Flagicon Sydney Template:Flagicon Auckland Template:Flagicon Shanghai Template:Flagicon Nagoya Template:Flagicon Iskandar Puteri Template:Flagicon Busan Template:Flagicon Bangkok
Warwick Castle	Template:Flagicon United Kingdom	1978	2007	Acquired in Tussauds Group merger.

Future locations

Name	Location	Planned Opening Year
Legoland Shanghai Resort	Template:Flagicon Jinshan District, Shanghai, China	2025
Legoland Sichuan Resort	Template:Flagicon Chengdu, Sichuan, China	2026
Legoland Shenzhen Resort	Template:Flagicon Shenzhen, China	2027
Legoland Beijing Resort	Template:Flagicon Fangshan District, Beijing, China	2028

Former locations

Name	Location	Year Opened	Year Acquired	Fate	Year Closed/Sold	Notes
Abenteuer Park Oberhausen	Template:Flagicon Oberhausen, Germany	1996	2011	Closed	2015	Formerly known as CentrO.Park (1996–2011) & Sea Life Abenteuer Park (2013)
The Bear Grylls Adventure	Template:Flagicon Birmingham, UK	2018		Closed	2024
Earth Explorer	Template:Flagicon Ostend, Belgium	2004	-	Sold	2013
Falls Creek ski resort	Template:Flagicon Victoria, Australia	1946	2011	Sold	2019	Acquired in MFS Living and Leisure deal, sold to Vail Resorts in 2019.
Hotham Alpine Resort	Template:Flagicon Victoria, Australia	1925	2011	Sold	2019	Ski resort acquired in MFS Living and Leisure deal, sold to Vail Resorts in 2019.
Little Big City	Template:Flagicon Berlin, Germany Template:Flagicon Beijing, China	2017 2018		Closed	2024
Legoland Discovery Centre Duisburg	Template:Flagicon Duisburg, Germany	2007	-	Closed	2013	Moved to Oberhausen after a few years.
Legoland Discovery Centre Hotham	Template:Flagicon Mt Hotham, AZ at Hotham Alpine Resort	2018	-	Closed	2018
London Planetarium	Template:Flagicon 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	Template:Flagicon San Francisco	2014	-	Closed	2024
Madame Tussauds Washington DC	Template:Flagicon Washington D.C.	2007	-	Closed	2021	Closed since 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The San Francisco Dungeon	Template:Flagicon San Francisco	2014	-	Closed	2022	Closed since 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Sea Life Hastings	Template:Flagicon Hastings, England	2008	-	Sold	2012	Now belongs to the Blue Reef Aquarium chain.
Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary	Template:Flagicon Oban, Scotland	1979	-	Closed	2018
Sea Life St. Andrews	Template:Flagicon St. Andrews, Scotland	1999	TBA	Sold	TBA	Now operates as the St. Andrews Aquarium.
Manly Sea Life Sanctuary	Template:Flagicon Manly, Australia	1965	2010	Closed	2018
Sea Life Bray Aquarium	Template:Flagicon Bray, Ireland	1998	-	Closed	2023	-

Cancelled locations

Name	Location	Year Planned To Open	Year Cancelled	Notes
Legoland Belgium	Template:Flagicon Gosselies, Belgium	2027	2023	Was planned to be built on the former site of Caterpillar's Gosselies factory and to be opened in 2027, but the project was cancelled on 24 March 2023.