Finance: Cedar Fair to acquire SFWoA

Posted at 9:25 AM EST (1425 GMT)

Mar. 10th, 2004 -- Cedar Fair, L.P. (NYSE: FUN), a publicly traded partnership which owns and operates six amusement parks and five water parks, today announced that it has reached agreement in principle for the acquisition of Six Flags Worlds of Adventure, located near Cleveland, Ohio, from Six Flags, Inc. The transaction, which is valued at $145 million, involves the purchase of substantially all of the assets of the park, including the adjacent hotel and campground. Six Flags will retain ownership of all animals currently located at the park. The cash purchase is subject to a number of conditions, including the negotiation of a definitive purchase agreement, and is expected to close before the beginning of the 2004 season. Further details were not disclosed.

"This is an excellent and unique opportunity for both companies," said Dick Kinzel, Cedar Fair's chairman, president and chief executive officer. "With this acquisition, we have the ability to add another successful operation to the Cedar Fair family of parks in a market we already know well. The park, which will be renamed Geauga Lake beginning with the 2004 season, offers numerous marketing and operational synergies that we hope to take advantage of almost immediately."

Six Flags Worlds of Adventure is a family-oriented theme park situated on approximately 690 acres, including a 50-acre spring-fed lake. The park offers its guests a wide variety of rides and attractions, including 10 roller coasters, several children's areas, a water park, and various live shows, and entertains more than 1.5 million guests each year, principally from the Cleveland/Akron, Youngstown and Pittsburgh markets. Although 2003 was a soft year, over the past three years the park has averaged revenues of approximately $64 million and cash operating profit of approximately $16 million. Cedar Fair's revenues and cash operating profit for 2003 were $510 million and $176 million, respectively.