November 22, 1999
Oklahoma City, OK -- Premier Parks Inc. announced today that it had consummated a series of previously announced transactions with Warner Bros., a Time Warner Entertainment company, including entering into a long-term license agreement providing Premier with exclusive theme park usage in Europe and Latin and South America (including Mexico) of the Looney Tunes, Hanna-Barbera, Cartoon Network and DC Comics characters. The license also enables the Company to brand or develop additional Warner Bros. Movie World Theme Parks in those markets. Premier currently owns the exclusive theme park license from Warner Bros. and DC Comics for their characters in parks in the United States and Canada.
The Company also consummated its purchase for cash of Warner Bros. Movie World Germany, a theme park located near Dusseldorf, Germany, and entered into a joint venture with Warner Bros. to develop and manage a new Warner Bros. Movie World Theme Park scheduled to open in Madrid, Spain in 2002. The $400 million park is being primarily funded by a regional government development agency and banks and private corporate investors. Premier and Warner Bros. will receive development and management fees in connection with building and operating the park.
"This is an excellent strategic step for our Company," noted Kieran E. Burke, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Premier Parks. "Not only do we expand our international presence into two very important countries, but the license also gives us very powerful brands with which to take full advantage of the significant opportunities available to us in Europe and Latin and South America."
Premier expects the license to have a dramatic impact on its existing international parks' performance as well as parks it may acquire in the future. Mr. Burke said, "We branded four of our U.S. parks as Six Flags parks this year. The combination of the brand and the deployment of the licensed characters helped to drive higher growth at those parks, with full season year-over-year growth of 21% in attendance and 36% in revenues. As we have experienced in our domestic parks, we expect the impact of the characters internationally to be profound - increasing per capita spending as well as helping to drive higher attendance.
"In addition to the new parks in Germany and Spain, we expect to initially deploy the licensed Warner Bros. characters in certain of our existing international parks beginning in the 2000 operating season. We expect the branding and the presence of the characters in these parks to fuel significant additional growth as it has in the parks we have branded in the United States. In addition, these transactions and the expansion of our worldwide presence enhances our opportunity to dramatically expand our sponsorship and co-marketing relationships."
Premier Parks is the world's largest regional theme park company, with thirty-five parks throughout North America and Europe.
Related Stories
Premier Parks Announces Agreement with Warner Bros. October 11, 1999