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SeaWorld Orlando executives did not make any announcements about the ownership future of the park at an early morning staff meeting today.
With television satellite trucks parked outside of the resort, SeaWorld General Manager Dan Brown told employees that he would not discuss "rumors" about a potential sale of Busch Entertainment Corp. or any of its 10 theme parks and that he did not have any major announcements to make. Brown made the comments at the outset of the 8 a.m. meeting and repeated them again when asked during a question-and-answer session.
The meeting had become the subject of intense speculation after a local television station reported late last night that SeaWorld executives intended to announce that the park had been sold. But SeaWorld said the staff meeting was instead a "regularly scheduled employee communications meeting" that touched on issues such as highlights from the just-concluded summer.
Busch Entertainment, which owns SeaWorld Orlando and its sister parks Aquatica and Discovery Cove, has approximately 7,000 employees in Orlando.
Representatives for both SeaWorld and Busch Entertainment officials deferred all other questions about ownership to Anheuser-Busch InBev, the Belgium-based beer giant that acquired Busch Entertainment and its 10 theme parks after a merger with the Anheuser-Busch Cos. last year. AB InBev would not discuss the speculation about a potential deal.
"We will not be able to comment," AB InBev spokeswoman Karen Couck said.
AB InBev has been seeking a buyer for the parks for months. Executives at the world's largest beer brewer have said they want to shed non-core assets and use the money to help pay down the massive debt incurred in the merger.
Rumors have long focused on The Blackstone Group, the private equity giant that owns a 50 percent stake in Universal Orlando, as one of the most likely suitors.
Representatives for Blackstone could not be immediately reached this morning.
Speculation intensified in recent weeks amid reports that Blackstone is preparing an initial public offering of its Merlin Entertainments Group, whose holdings include Legoland theme parks, Madame Tussauds wax museums and the London Eye.
Analysts say Blackstone could hope to make the Merlin public offering more attractive by acquiring the Busch parks and packaging them with Merlin in the offering.
Orlando Sentinel
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