Product type
Regional ride parks, children’s/specialty parks
Advertisement
In June 2019, the company agreed to be acquired for £6 billion by Berkeley Bidco Ltd, a new company jointly owned by Kirkbi A/S and Blackstone Core Equity Partners. Following the acquisition, it was delisted from the London Stock Exchange in November 2019. Under the new ownership, Kirkbi controls 50 percemt of Merlin ownership, while Blackstone and Canadian pension fund CPPIB owns the remainder.
The majority of the company’s portfolio consists of over 120 indoor ‘Midway’-branded attractions, which are smaller scale and have a short length of stay compared to theme parks. Well-known examples include Madame Tussauds wax museums, Legoland Discovery Centre attractions, Sea Life aquariums, The Dungeons interactive history exhibits, and the London Eye, Blackpool Tower Eye, and Sydney Tower Eye observation attractions.
In addition, Merlin owns and operates 10 Legoland theme parks worldwide in eight countries and six other individually-branded resort theme parks. The Legoland operating group constitutes 46 percent of Merlin revenues and received 16 million guests (as of 2022). In recent years, Merlin has focused on China for the development of new Legoland parks, with four new parks already announced and underway.
Over the years, Merlin has actively licensed leading intellectual property (IP) for its attractions, most notably the long-term, multi-product partnership with the Lego Group. It also has local and global IP partnerships with DreamWorks (Comcast), CBeebies (BBC Studios), Bear Grylls, Marvel, and Sony Pictures Entertainment. Most recently, Merlin entered a multi-territory partnership with Entertainment One (acquired by Hasbro) to license the Peppa Pig brand for location-based entertainment attractions including a new second gate at Legoland Florida in Orlando, a standalone Peppa Pig Theme Park in Texas and an upcoming Legoland in Chengdu, China.
Advertisement
Regional ride parks, children’s/specialty parks
Worldwide, across 4 continents
USD 400 million to 500+ million
Existing Theme Parks
Licensed Theme Parks
Pipeline Projects
Billund, Denmark
1968
DKK 499
Windsor, UK
1996
GBP 66
San Diego, California, USA
1999
USD 119
Günzburg, Germany
2002
EUR 64
Winter Haven, Florida, USA
2011
USD 119
Nusajaya, Johor, Malaysia
2012
MYR 249
Dubai, UAE
2016
AED 330
Nagoya, Japan
2017
JPY 7,900
Warwick, UK
GBP 39
Alton, UK
1980
GBP 68
Castelnuovo del Garda, Italy
1975
EUR 55
Soltau, Germany
1978
EUR 64
Chertsey, UK
1979
GBP 64
Chessington, UK
1987
GBP 60
Goshen, New York, USA
2021
USD 94
Chuncheon-si, Gangwon-do, South Korea
2022
KRW 60,000
Merlin to publish social impact report in partnership with Purpose ...
24th Nov 2023Thorpe Park shares Hyperia coaster construction update
24th Nov 2023Imaginize showcases concepts for new Big Easy Boulevard at Thorpe P...
21st Nov 2023Minifigure Speedway: Legoland Windsor to launch its fastest coaster...
15th Nov 2023Merlin Entertainments announces expansion of Legoland Florida Resor...
9th Nov 2023Merlin Entertainments reveals preview of Legoland Shanghai Resort
8th Nov 2023Germany’s new Peppa Pig Park unveils Daddy Pig’s Roller...
30th Oct 2023Chessington’s planned water park would be an “affordabl...
16th Oct 2023The top 14 theme parks in the UK
11th Oct 2023