Universal theme parks owner Comcast NBCUniversal will take full ownership of Universal Studios Japan, buying a 49 percent stake from its current partners for $2.3 billion, the company said Tuesday.
NBCUniversal also said Super Nintendo World, a “highly themed and expansive area featuring globally popular characters and their game worlds from Nintendo brought to life,” will open at the Osaka park for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. It also plans to open Minion Park, featuring a 3-D ride, later this year.
Partners selling their stake include Goldman Sachs, former park CEO Glenn Gumpel, Asian private-equity firm MBK Partners and U.S. hedge fund Owl Creek Asset Management. The transaction creates a park value of $7.4 billion, NBCUniversal said, including the assumption of USJ net debt.
“This acquisition will bring an even stronger future for the theme park, its guests and its team members,” said Tom Williams, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for Universal Parks & Resorts, in a press release.
The park opened in 2001, licensed by NBCUniversal to a Japanese company. It added a Harry Potter land in 2014.
NBCUniversal said in a release that the deal for the Japan park, expected to close before the end of April, shows its “strong interest in the Asian market – the company is also building a theme park destination in Beijing and licenses a theme park in Singapore.”
Other expansions and acquisitions for the company include the recent purchase of more than 400 acres near International Drive in Orlando and this summer’s opening of Volcano Bay water park at Universal Orlando Resort. It’s also expected to redevelop the site of the closed Wet ’n’ Wild water park on I-Drive.
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Universal Orlando has set a grand opening date for Volcano Bay, its under-construction water park.
Universal Orlando has set a grand opening date for Volcano Bay, its under-construction water park.
The House bill that would eliminate Visit Florida and Enterprise Florida would have another result: Getting rid of the urban high crime district program that has been used to avoid millions of dollars in taxes by Universal Orlando.
The House bill that would eliminate Visit Florida and Enterprise Florida would have another result: Getting rid of the urban high crime district program that has been used to avoid millions of dollars in taxes by Universal Orlando.
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