SeaWorld Entertainment Inc has offered to buy amusement park operator Cedar Fair LP for $3.4 billion in cash, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Sandusky, Ohio-based Cedar Fair confirmed it had received an unsolicited proposal from bigger peer SeaWorld and said its board would review the bid. It did not disclose the offer price.
SeaWorld has made a bid of about $60 per share, the person said, representing a premium of about 21% to Cedar Fair’s Monday close. SeaWorld declined to comment.
Shares of Cedar Fair surged about 11%, while SeaWorld rose marginally.
The potential deal comes at a time when the leisure and entertainment sector slowly recovers from COVID-19 lockdowns that had hammered the industry for more than a year.
Truist Securities analyst Michael Swartz said the deal would diversify SeaWorld’s park assets and reduce exposure to the key destination markets of Florida and Southern California, which account for about 65% to 70% of its current attendance base.
Cedar Fair has a market cap of about $2.83 billion, according to Refinitiv IBES data.
In 2019, Cedar Fair rejected a takeover offer of $4 billion, or about $70 per share, from larger peer Six Flags Entertainment Corp, saying the bid was too low.
Source: Reuters.com