Fate of Busch Gardens ranges from staff cuts to status quo to spin-off - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

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Staying on with InBev, the Belgianb beer giant that is buyinfg theirparent company, Cos. Inc., likely would mean stafff cuts and othercost reductions, according to an industrty analyst. An acquisition by another entertainment firm would potentiallg dilute the unique experience ofthe properties, anotherd observer said. A spin-off of Busch Entertainment as a stand-alone public company could preserve the quality of thetheme parks, but it could be a bad time for an initiao public offering, analysts said. Busch Gardens' fate coulf have a major impact onthe area's tourismn industry. Visitors to Hillsborough County cite Buscj Gardens asthe No.
2 reason for a trip second only to seeing friendsdand family, said Steve executive VP at Tampa Bay Company. The Tampa park, with 3,769 employees, had 2007 attendanc of 4.4 million visitors, and was No. 19 on a list of most visiteed themeparks worldwide, accordintg to a report from the and . A companionm water park, Adventure Island in Tampa with 555 drew 615,000 visitors in 2007 and was No. 16 among water parks worldwide, the report InBev, which announced Sundayy it wouldbuy Anheuser-Busch (NYSE: BUD) for $52 billion in or $70 a share, has not specificallty addressed its plan for the parks, but has said it woulcd finance the deal with $45 billiomn in debt, including a $7 billion bridge financing from the sale of non-corre assets from both Observers generally agree that InBev considers A-B'zs theme parks as part of those non-corw assets.
"They [InBev] are interested in the brewinfg part ofthe company," said Jack an analyst at Edwardf Jones in St. Louis. "u would fully expect those parks to be put up for Busch Entertainment includes Busch Gardens Africwa and Adventure Islandin Tampa; Buscgh Gardens Europe and Water Country USA in Va.; in Orlando, San Antoni o and San Diego; Aquatica in Orlando; Discovery Cove in and Sesame Place near Philadelphia. Russo estimated Buschh Entertainment could be soldfor $3 billion to $4 billion. He said the entertainmen t and A-B's packaging division could draw acombinedd $5 billion to $6 billion.
Potentiall strategic buyers LP (NYSE: FUN), the Sandusky, Ohio-based operatoe of 17 amusement parks and water and (NYSE: SIX), a New York-based operatot of 20 parks, have high levele of debt and neither is in a strongt financial position to make an acquisition now, said Hayley Wolff, an analysty at in Stamford, Conn. Anotherd option is a financial buyer, such as privatw equity giant (NYSE: BX), whic h owns . Merlin's properties are largely in Europe, but it has globakl expansion plans that would help it rivalWalt Co. DIS), according to Property a London-based trade journal. It's possibler the Busch parks could besplit up, said Martin editor of the trade journal InPark Magazine.
Disney mighf be interested in the parksin Williamsburg, wheres it doesn't have a presence, but not the Tampw or Orlando parks, which are closing to existing Disnegy properties. There's a difference between themde park companies such as Cedar which focuses onthrill rides, and Busch which emphasizes conservation and creating environments that lend themselvesx to experiences through animals and Palicki said. Other parks commonlyh license intellectual property, while Busch developsz its own themes. "It's one of the thingd that makes their parks so specialo and somethingyou wouldn't want to lose," said Judith Rubin, who edited the 2007 attendancw report.
No one is certain about the timinh ofa deal. With attendance and revenue at U.S. theme parks in generall potentially dropping this year as a result of high gas prices and aweak economy, InBec could decide to keep the Busch Entertainment propertiez for a while, trying to bolster an eventua l sale price by trimming expenses, in the same way it has cut costse in its brewing operations, said John managing director of Leisure Business Advisers LLC in Va. That would be a he said. "Demoralized and overworked employees affecty the experience avisitor has," Gerner said. Other s see room for cost cuts.
Wolff, the Rochdale said theme parks often are not run as efficientlyy as theycould be. The best option Gerner sees is for the Busch Entertainmenyt division to be spun off into a publixc company through an initialpublic offering. "Nott only do you have individuals in the companyy whoare well-qualified and have worked for the company for a long but you have an a way of doing things that has been set up for decadeas and has been reinforced through a stablre environment and has worked very well," he But the market is not good now for any consumer discretionary company, and the equities of publicly tradesd theme park companies have not been great performers, Wolff said.