PortAventura is for sale, its current owners, two investment funds, plan to sell it for 1,000 million euros and there have already been approaches. Will Universal be among those interested?
PortAventura It is the most visited theme park and resort in Spain, and one of the most visited in Europe, behind only Disney, Europa Park and Efteling. The park has had many owners since it opened in 1995, and in 2024 it could pass into other hands.
As Cinco Días has reported, its current owners They are planning to sell it, and they have already begun to make approaches, according to sources. They plan to get rid of him for the value of 1 billion euros.
El Nacional de Catalunya adds that the operation is already underway and there have been contacts with Chinese investors, although it recognizes that one of the possible interested parties is Universal Destination & Experiencesa company that already owned the park between 1998 and 2004, for many the “golden age” of the resort, when it was briefly known as Universal Mediterranean.
Behind PortAventura there is no company dedicated to leisure parks, such as Parque Reunidos (which operates Parque Warner and several dozen parks around the world) nor an entertainment giant like Disney or Universal.
Its current owners are two investment funds, Investindustrial (50.1%) and KKR (49.9%), making the Italian Bonomi family its operators.
The objective of these investment funds would have been to make the park grow in order to sell it at that price. Their goal appeared to be not only to recover the pre-pandemic levels of 2019, but get over them. And for the fiscal year 2023 they hope to close it with 5.3 million visitorsexceeding the 5.2 million in 2019.
Why the sale of PortAventura makes sense
Although some park enthusiasts do not give much credit to the news, after another similar news emerged in 2017, later denied by the funds, and with the rumor mill that always surrounds this park (its fans are burning with desire for it to happen to other hands, dissatisfied with the direction of the park in recent years: loss of thematic value, IPs like Ferrari or LaLiga, attractions of uneven quality…).
But Business Insider explains why. the sale of PortAventura makes senseeven with favorable operating results and an economic context that discourages making movements (with the ECB and the Federal Reserve threatening to raise the price of money).
And it is that KKR and Investindustrial need liquidity for the rest of their investments. As examples, they say that KKR announced this Monday an investment of 230 million euros in Reliance Retail, an Indian retail chain, while the Bonomis have been immersed for a year in the purchase of a majority stake in Eataly, an Italian food chain. deluxe.
If so, it may be that PortAventura changes owners, which could mean a new stage for the resort. The dream of many is that he returns Universalwhich could turn the park into a long-awaited European resort to compete with the Parisian resort half-forgotten by Disney, and perhaps in the future have Harry Potter, Jurassic World, Super Nintendo World attractions…