AQUALANDIA TO BID FOR TERRA MITICA

News

Staff Reporter / 2010-01-12 12:53:31

Aqualandia to bid

At a meeting of shareholders the major owners of the theme park Terra Mitica, the Regional Generalitat, CAM and Bancaja, all urged the management group that the time had now come to sell the troubled corporation.

The dire financial situation that the park continues to find itself in has been exacerbated recently when it failed to open over the Christmas and New Year periods as is normally the case. Although on this occasion, rather than poor management, the failure was brought about by the rain and high winds, at times reaching 172 km per hour, the income that would have been generated during the period would have gone some way toward reducing the current debt.

And standing in the wings watching developments unfold is the group-Mundomar Aqualandia Benidorm, who have already said that they are willing to put in a bid for the acquisition of 100% of the park’s shares and assets. However should any bid be made Aqualandia are unlikely to have things all their own way as the operator l'Oceanogràfic Warner Park and the Aspro group are also keen to take over the running of the park.

Terra Mitica currently owes it’s creditors in the region of 60 million euro so shareholders are now being implored to sell. The conditions of sale that the owners are currently thought to be considering include two possibilities for each of the three candidates: a lease with an option to buy during a period of seven to 10 years or the outright sale.

As an alternative to leasing Aqualandia-Mundomar has outlined in its proposal, its willingness to assume full ownership of the park from the outset. Although the amount the business group is willing to pay has not yet been released, the leisure sector operators consider that a "reasonable price" for Terra Mitica would be around 50 or 60 million, which is equivalent to the debt accumulated by the park after it lost 18 million in 2008.

Tags: Aqualandia, Terra Mitica, Benidorm