Richard Zimmerman, chief executive officer of Cedar Fair, disclosed Feb. 16 the amount of the offer—$3.58 billion—and that the company was rejecting it. Cedar Fair previously had revealed Feb. 1 that SeaWorld had made them an offer for an undisclosed amount.
“SeaWorld did make an unsolicited, non-binding proposal to acquire Cedar Fair," Zimmerman said. "The original proposal was for $60 per unit, which they subsequently and informally increased to $63 per unit. Consistent with its fiduciary responsibilities, our Board, together with its external advisors, carefully evaluated the proposal and determined it was not in the best interests of the Company and its unitholders."
Based on Cedar Fair’s statement of ownership filed Feb. 11 with the Securities and Exchange Commission, it has 56,842,303 depository units—or shares—making SeaWorld’s increased offer amount to $3.58 billion. Cedar Fair also announced net revenues totaling $1.34 billion in 2021.
In addition to the Schlitterbahn locations, Cedar Fair owns theme parks and resorts in California, Ohio, Missouri, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Canada.
As previously reported by Community Impact Newspaper, the two Schlitterbahn locations were sold to Cedar Fair in 2019 for $261 million.
