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Portaventura Being Sold Back to Universal? Rumour!

So PortAventura apparently is looking to be sold in the near future. Though the resort is expected to reach a record 5.3 million visitors this year, the current owners have recently refinanced a loan of 700 million euros, and now they’re said to be looking to sell the resort for an asking price of a billion euros flat. Nothing on any interested parties has come up yet.

cincodias.elpais.com

KKR e Investindustrial ponen en venta Port Aventura

Las valoraciones del parque de atracciones rondan los 1.000 millones de euros y JP Morgan se perfila como asesor
cincodias.elpais.com cincodias.elpais.com
 
I guess this implies that either the Universal purchase was just a rumour, it did exist but has collapsed completely, or it still exists but has stalled and this is a tactic to push them along.
 
I can't imagine Universal spending a billion euros on Port Aventura especially when Epic Universe is costing a billion dollars.

I can imagine Universal have enquired about purchasing it but have been put off by that price tag. I know it is a long time ago now, but that is a crazy price when you consider that they first bought the park for a reported £40 million in 1998.

PA would have been a sound investment for them to keep hold of!
 
They wont get a billion for it. It's just highballing it. Universal might as well still be interested but PA try their best to get a higher price. This is just standard negotiation.
 
spicy said:
I can't imagine Universal spending a billion euros on Port Aventura especially when Epic Universe is costing a billion dollars.
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Epic costs a billion dollars per year to build, will likely total 5-6 billion dollars. Which makes PA for just 1 billion but fully functional with two gates and world records look cheap in comparison.
 
bratcurry said:
Epic costs a billion dollars per year to build, will likely total 5-6 billion dollars. Which makes PA for just 1 billion but fully functional with two gates and world records look cheap in comparison.
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Where did you read the 1 billion dollars a year costs?

It's hard to find out what Epic Universe is costing, there are a lot of contradictory articles when looking through google. I plucked the 1 billion total cost from here: https://thatparkplace.com/universals-epic-universe-to-open-in-2025-costing-1-billion/

But that does seem a rather low figure for a park of that scale and hotels etc..

I guess when considering Galaxy's Edge is rumoured to cost around a billion dollars, 1 billion euros for PA isn't so bad after all. I assume the buyer will also inherit the 700 million euro loan on top though.
 
spicy said:
I can't imagine Universal spending a billion euros on Port Aventura especially when Epic Universe is costing a billion dollars.

I can imagine Universal have enquired about purchasing it but have been put off by that price tag. I know it is a long time ago now, but that is a crazy price when you consider that they first bought the park for a reported £40 million in 1998.

PA would have been a sound investment for them to keep hold of!
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I initially thought it would be poor timing given the amount Universal is spending in Orlando and Texas, but seemingly cash isn't much of an issue for Universal currently, as they are sitting on an option to sell a streaming service to Disney for an amount that makes the PA purchase price look like loose change!

Quite possibly Universals interest hinges more on timing so they dont spend too much and spook shareholders - and also what baggage comes with PA
it does still seem on paper like a no brainer way for them to get a footprint into the European Market (assuming they care about the European market!) - as that park couldnt be built for that price today if you started from scratch!
 
It was reported a while ago that numerous Disneyland Paris executives, including their operations director, were recruited by PortAventura. My thinking is that they were recruited by Universal and that the buyout has always been on the table. A Universal resort in the Mediterranean, and another one here in the UK.
 
Interestingly, I was reading some folks who were saying on Inside Universal that PortAventura apparently wants Universal to buy them out, but Universal haven’t been convinced yet.

I also heard suggestions that a PortAventura buyout may be a plan B for if the UK plan falls through for whatever reason.

I’m personally hesitant about whether they’d want two Universal resorts in Europe. Particularly seeing as PortAventura is in a popular British holiday spot in Spain, and Brits would probably be a key visitor demographic for a Universal-owned PortAventura. A Universal-owned PortAventura might risk cannibalising attendance from the new build UK Universal, or vice versa.
 
Not sure if this is just a coincidence or part of some licensing deal, but domain names relating to Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville, a chain of hotels and restaurants which has establishments at both U.S. Universal resorts, has been filed for PortAventura. That would make it the first of these to pop up in Europe.

www.looopings.nl

Domeinnamen wijzen op plan voor nieuw resort bij PortAventura: Margaritaville

Een bekende Amerikaanse hotel- en restaurantketen lijkt plannen te hebben voor een vestiging nabij PortAventura World. Onder de naam Margaritaville...
www.looopings.nl www.looopings.nl
 
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Tonkso said:
It's the IATA for Barcelona, specifically. I guess Reuss just doesn't have the same wow factor. I'm finding this rumour more and more likely by the day. Fingers crossed.
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I don't want to get my hopes up but I wish the rumors come true! 🤞🏼
 
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