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London Entertainment Resort: All Discussion

Can't see any investment any time soon, the markets are bombing and visitor attractions have a very opaque future in terms of direction. Can we counter this virus, will it be around for so long, will the public's appetite for such an experience remain after how this experience has affected them? All questions we cannot answer, nobody can answer.

If you were seriously looking into the UK for building a new park, you'd naturally do your background research. That would then show how parks are going bust for fun at the moment and how the UK market has shrunk. Outside of Merlin, there really isn't much of scale is there? You'd then have to look at the Euro Disney project, and how badly that went in it's early years. They overstated numbers and nearly collapsed completely. This project is overhyping numbers way more than Euro Disney did.

WRT the current progress, there is no progress. I want this to be built, it'd be great if it was but I just cannot see the business case for such a development. Rather, it'd be easier to imagine a company buying part of Merlin to get in on the UK action with way less risk.
 
Well, it looks as though we may finally have our answer to the pages-long finance debate; it looks as though an Indian firm named the Shapoorji Pallonji Group (apologies if I spelt that wrong) is one of four companies bidding for some sort of major construction contract for the London Resort worth $1.8bn: https://www.business-standard.com/a...e-theme-park-uk-s-largest-120070500293_1.html

Three other companies are also bidding for this contract, and from what the article says, this contract is for the “engineering, procurement and construction of the theme park”, so I’m assuming that whichever company wins may play a large part in financing the project.

I don’t know whether I’m misinterpreting this or not, but this seems like a pretty big step! This is not just a piece of paper or a press release, this is actual money being put on the table, and quite big money at that; $1.8bn is no insignificant amount by any means!
 
When a company bids for a construction contract it usually just means that they want 'the job' of building it and will compete against the prices others are offering to do the job for. For example, that Indian firm may offer to do the job for less money than the next comapny who wants the work/job. The construction firm is usually completely different to where the actual funding for the project is coming from. The construction firm will be receiving money from whoever is doing the funding, usually.
 
But surely it’s still a very significant step that people are actually bidding for actual construction contracts worth that much money, is it not?
 
I suppose it could be. I havn't been following this much in recent times so I'm not really sure if anything material has actually happened yet apart from talks and planning. Others will be able to shed more light on it I expect.
 
BarryZola said:
I suppose it could be. I havn't been following this much in recent times so I'm not really sure if anything material has actually happened yet apart from talks and planning. Others will be able to shed more light on it I expect.
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As far as I’m aware, I think this is the first time that actual contract signing of this style has ever been discussed for the project!
 
It doesn’t seem like this answers any questions about financing yet to be honest. All that is saying is that there is a tender out for a deal for construction and procurement and Shapoorji Pallonji are one of the four companies said to be in the running.

In other words, they’ve put themselves forward to potentially receive up to $1.8bn of work from the project, but they’ll bid for plenty of work in their line of business. Some will come to fruition, many won’t. It doesn’t however answer anything about how the resort will be financed, which is what we’ve been discussing. It does state that the project is “well funded” by KEH but that’s a bit of a nothing statement, as that could just mean the efforts to get the project off the ground are being funded by KEH. They still need that £6.5bn+ funded before they can move this thing forwards to breaking ground.

If I’m honest away from this whole construction deal, this smells like another effort to advertise funding and interest for the park. Especially when they’re mentioning that with this deal they’re hoping to attract high net worth individuals from India to invest into the project too.
 
If nothing else, it's the first time we've seen this type of official contract being discussed with the project, isn't it? As whichever company gets awarded it will actually be building the Resort if it gets approved?
 
Matt N said:
If nothing else, it's the first time we've seen this type of official contract being discussed with the project, isn't it? As whichever company gets awarded it will actually be building the Resort if it gets approved?
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There's been a LOT of agreements over the years, many of which have lapsed or don't seem to have been mentioned again. Off the top of my head, we've seen an agreement with IHG Hotels for accommodation in 2017, then later in 2019 with Radisson Hotel Group - no idea if they're both opening hotels as IHG were never mentioned in the 2019 announcement. Then there's the IP agreements (e.g. Paramount which jumped ship then came back on board) and the agreement for the land from LaFarge. Then of course Keltbray Construction who later then seemingly pulled out.

To put this into a comparison for you, at present this is basically a quote. There's no contract signed, there's nothing signed on the dotted line and most importantly - no money has changed hands. It's the equivalent of me ringing around asking builders what a house extension will cost. I'll get some figures and interested companies, but until I get some money in the bank there's not a chance they're going to start of anything.
 
At the risk of getting Matt all excited, KentOnline have done another piece charting the history of the project - because they know it generates clicks:

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/dartford/news/the-chequered-history-of-the-uks-disneyland-230409/

There's no new information in it, but one of the anonymous comments was interesting - if true:

I've been in contact with the 'the London Resort' since 2015 over investment opportunities and other items, keen to be involved, these aren't small investments either, but since 2015, and since then absolutely zero returned calls, contacts, emails, bids or more has been made from them. So for a local investor, I'm out already.
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KolonelKlink said:
At the risk of getting Matt all excited, KentOnline have done another piece charting the history of the project - because they know it generates clicks:

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/dartford/news/the-chequered-history-of-the-uks-disneyland-230409/

There's no new information in it, but one of the anonymous comments was interesting - if true:
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If there is any truth in it, I'd say the person's definition of 'not small' is different from the sums required by this project.
 
I don’t know whether it gives away anything important, but PY Gerbeau has done some sort of interview for BBC Southeast where he describes the Resort as a “game changer”:
https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000l5d2/south-east-today-late-news-21072020&h=AT3bYjI5mrqgaS4dloJ9FRedBy0TLTmyBJLdJhmBoPMIbS2bmFC2zTpTQzVlFUkdw_XiOb-iqA-5Uo-gkJ6jcVaq9UzyP5uXMT4zl5v8__zfA1MhRYKkD3t_XjibXB4&s=1
I couldn’t watch it, because I don’t have a BBC account, but if someone who does watches it, then does it say anything of note?
 
Matt N said:
I don’t know whether it gives away anything important, but PY Gerbeau has done some sort of interview for BBC Southeast where he describes the Resort as a “game changer”:
https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000l5d2/south-east-today-late-news-21072020&h=AT3bYjI5mrqgaS4dloJ9FRedBy0TLTmyBJLdJhmBoPMIbS2bmFC2zTpTQzVlFUkdw_XiOb-iqA-5Uo-gkJ6jcVaq9UzyP5uXMT4zl5v8__zfA1MhRYKkD3t_XjibXB4&s=1
I couldn’t watch it, because I don’t have a BBC account, but if someone who does watches it, then does it say anything of note?
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As the iPlayer video expires tonight, I've saved this for posterity: ;)

PS. I note he has a London Resort pin badge on. How long before they start flogging those to the masses on some online shop I wonder...

 
Thanks @Alastair; very helpful!

Interesting to see that they’ve now dialled down their first year visitor estimate to 4 million; maybe the 6.5 million figure was for the first full, 365 day season?
 
Matt N said:
Thanks @Alastair; very helpful!

Interesting to see that they’ve now dialled down their first year visitor estimate to 4 million; maybe the 6.5 million figure was for the first full, 365 day season?
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I imagine they have had to grossly downplay the number of imaginary guests entering their imaginary theme park due to current economic instability.

But I’m sure once they have their first full imaginary season in 2340 things will pick right up......
 
Out of interest, where is this actually being built in relation to other parts of Kent? A look at Apple Maps seems to suggest it’s near Gravesend, but I’ve heard lots of references to it being built in Ebbsfleet in the promotional material, which is on the other side of Kent closer to Margate.

I’m very confused; does anyone know anymore?
 
Matt N said:
Out of interest, where is this actually being built in relation to other parts of Kent? A look at Apple Maps seems to suggest it’s near Gravesend, but I’ve heard lots of references to it being built in Ebbsfleet in the promotional material, which is on the other side of Kent closer to Margate.

I’m very confused; does anyone know anymore?
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Ebbsfleet and Gravesend are right next to each other (there are two Ebbsfleets in Kent)
 
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