SeaWorld Reportedly Offers to Buy Cedar Fair for $3.4 Billion

SeaWorld Entertainment Inc has offered to buy amusement park operator Cedar Fair LP for $3.4 billion, according to a source familiar with the matter.

SeaWorld has made a bid of about $60 per share in cash, the source said, representing a premium of about 21% to Cedar Fair’s Monday close.

Cedar Fair confirmed the offer in a statement, adding its board will review the proposal. SeaWorld declined to comment.

Shares of Cedar Fair rose as much as 12.5% before being halted, while those of SeaWorld were up about 5%.

The deal comes as the leisure and entertainment sector slowly gets back on its feet after the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns hammered the industry for over a year.

Sandusky, Ohio-based Cedar Fair has a market cap of about $2.83 billion, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

Cedar Fair rejected a takeover offer of $4 billion, or about $70 per share, from larger peer Six Flags Entertainment Corp in 2019, saying the bid was too low.

Bloomberg first reported SeaWorld’s offer earlier on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru and Greg Roumeliotis; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Anil D’Silva)

This article was written by Greg Roumeliotis from Reuters and was legally licensed through the Industry Dive Content Marketplace. Please direct all licensing questions to [email protected].