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Who do you want to buy Alton Towers?

matthewgcole said:
I think Merlin would be fine without Towers actually. Merlin are the company that 'owned the Sealifes that ended up buying the park's' anyway. The Legoland parks and the Midways are the core business for Merlin now and where completely unscathed by the Smiler crash. I think the company now see AT, Thorpe and Chessington as high maintenence annoyances. That's compounded with AT as it's a high risk, high Investment kind of park that has recently seen its reputation ruined. I'm in no doubt that if a reasonable offer was on the table, Merlin would offload AT in a heartbeat.
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I sincerely hope that you're right. Alton Towers as a theme park, leisure park, entity, whatever, deserves much better than it is currently receiving. A new vision would be welcome, and giving the council a kick in the balls would help. Honestly.
 
Poisson said:
Towers is probably the only theme park in Merlin's arsenal that'd stand on it's own well. Also at the moment it is probably the one they'd most likely sell
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I'm not certain. Chessington could also do well on its own, even if they dropped the entrance price and scaled themselves down to be more of a zoo than a theme park,
 
Altonadvocate1 said:
From Entrepreneurs such as Donald Trump or Richard Branson, through other theme park operators such as Disney or Six Flags, to employee partnerships along the lines of John Lewis or Waitress , companies from other sectors and even god forbid, the public sector, who would you trust to take over the running of the resort and why? What would they do differently to Merlin?
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You've hit the nail on the head, a random waitress should be sought to purchase Towers! :p

Who do I want to buy Alton Towers and who actually would buy Alton Towers are two totally different questions. Do I want the Mack family to buy Alton Towers? I don't, I want them to focus soley on what they do well, Mack Rides and Europa-Park. Alton Towers would merely drag Mack down.

Realistically though I can't see anyone who would buy Alton Towers. Anyone who did would need very deep pockets to fund the park's operations and future investments.

:)
 
BarryZola said:
Why do you think that, out of actual interest? Because they could get a decent price for it out of their initial outlay, or other reasons? Genuinely interested in your thoughts on why, I'm not trying to trap you or anything stupid like that.
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You never do try and trap, always thoughtful questions.

Most likely to sell as it is a high maintenance place that needs lots of investment, also it has the little X-Sector PR Problem and all the other issues to boot. Also it CAN sell, unlike TP and CWoA where TP would get a much lower price if at all and CWoA would have to be thrown in to that deal as it is a money pit. Also Merlin dislike theme parks quite clearly.

Most likely to stand as it has a name, a reputation and a world class coaster (or two, dependant on opinion) and it has little local competition. The place could easily be turned in to a world class resort in a relatively short space of time as the groundwork is there. Regarding the council and JCB and residents etc a proper, civilised, grown up approach is needed. You need to improve local buses, possibly trains and definitley roads. Also the park seemingly still has fire, unlike the others, the spark of creation still exists under the suffocation of corporate affairs
 
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No idea for Towers (at least, there is no current viable park operator that would be of benefit to actually buying the park who isn't hiding in fantasy world), but however CWOA I'd reckon Plopsa would be a fantastic fit for, at least in terms of the park side of matters, not sure how/if they'd cope with the zoo... Whilst their IPs aren't really too strong in the UK, they could certainly push it, and they've done some good work with buying parks and tarting them up...

It's certainly more likely (if the parks were ever sold off) than Mack buying Towers...
 
This won't happen in a million years, but I'd love to see Herschend buy out Towers. They prove they can look after a beautiful park in Dollywood and make brilliant and high investments in that and Silver Dollar City. A man can dream.
 
Everyone wants to get Towers, but I'm wanting to try a challenge and buy out M&D's give it more than a little shake up! :D It'll be a lot cheaper than Towers for sure.
 
In an ideal world, Wardley Enterprises would be a pretty fantastic pick :D .
Someone just give that man a few billion, I'd love to see what he does with it. In fact, if such a firm were to exist, a design panel consisting of theme park enthusiasts from Towers Street would be the icing on the cake.
 
I was just thinking about this thread yesterday.

Reading back through the old posts on this thread, it would be interesting to know people's opinions now.....
 
It looks like the City were getting excited this week about the potential benefits of breaking up the Merlin Group to boost shareholder value. Not sure how this would impact AT, if at all? Interesting to see that the theme parks in 2017 have been the areas that have profited the Group.

Merlin urged to cast spell over City by splitting up (The Times, 10.11.17)

Investors in Merlin Entertainments are used to a rollercoaster ride on the markets. The FTSE 100 company behind theme parks that include Thorpe Park fell 16 per cent in a single day last month. Shares picked up yesterday, however, as the City discussed breaking up the operator.

Analysts at Numis contrasted the performance of the company’s Legoland and Resort Theme Parks divisions, which include Chessington World of Adventures and Alton Towers as well as Thorpe Park, with that of its Midway Attractions operation, which boasts Madam Tussauds and the London Eye. The latter had held Merlin back with lower growth, the broker noted, arguing that splitting the two sides of the company “may be the best way to unlock value”. Merlin has blamed poorer trading on bad weather and heightened concern over terrorism.

Numis upgraded the stock from “add” to “buy,” lifting shares by 2½p to 378½p. “Our perception is that investors have yet to be totally convinced of the value of the overall Merlin group structure and perceive a varying level of attractiveness in terms of growth potential and earnings visibility from the three divisions,” Numis said.

It added that the company’s recent trading update “conflated two distinct and very different issues,” with worse trading than expected this summer and clear disparity between different divisions.

Shares in Merlin, which floated in November 2013, are down almost 16 per cent since the turn of the year. The family of Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, the former chief executive of the Lego Group, is its largest shareholder, with a 29.7 per cent stake. Relatives of Mr Kristiansen also own 75 per cent of Lego.
 
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