Cedar Fair and Six Flags merger to complete July 1, mostly Cedar Fair executives to lead new company
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From the press release on closing:
Cedar Fair, L.P. (NYSE: FUN) (“Cedar Fair”) and Six Flags Entertainment Corporation (NYSE: SIX) (“Six Flags”), today announced that they notified the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) that the closing of Cedar Fair and Six Flags’ previously announced merger of equals (the “Mergers”) is expected to occur on July 1, 2024 (the “Expected Closing Date”). The completion of the Mergers is subject to the satisfaction or waiver of a number of conditions set forth in the merger agreement relating to the Mergers, including the satisfaction of regulatory conditions.
Six Flags today additionally announced that its Board of Directors has declared a special dividend of $1.53 per share of Six Flags common stock. The dividend is payable on July 1, 2024 to stockholders of record of Six Flags as of June 28, 2024 who hold their shares through the closing of the Mergers. The special dividend is conditioned on the closing of the Mergers and is being declared in accordance with the terms of the merger agreement. Accordingly, the record date and payment date may change based on the actual closing date of the Mergers.
Until the Mergers are complete, Cedar Fair’s units and Six Flags’ common stock will continue to trade on the NYSE. Upon the closing of the Mergers, (i) Cedar Fair’s units, which currently trade on the NYSE under the ticker symbol “FUN” and (ii) Six Flags’ common stock, which currently trade on the NYSE under the ticker symbol “SIX,” will cease to be listed on the NYSE following the closing of the Mergers and will each be deregistered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Immediately following the closing of the Mergers, the combined company will be renamed “Six Flags Entertainment Corporation” and trading of the combined company’s common stock on the NYSE is expected to begin on the day following the Expected Closing Date, July 2, 2024, under the ticker symbol “FUN.”
From the leadership press release:
Cedar Fair, L.P. (NYSE: FUN) (“Cedar Fair”) and Six Flags Entertainment Corporation (NYSE: SIX) (“Six Flags”), today announced the senior management team that will lead the combined company following the completion of their previously announced merger of equals (the “Mergers”).
As previously announced, upon closing of the transaction, Richard Zimmerman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cedar Fair, will serve as President and Chief Executive Officer of the combined company and Selim Bassoul, President and Chief Executive Officer of Six Flags, will serve as Executive Chairman of the combined company’s Board of Directors.
After completion of the Mergers, the following leaders will report to Zimmerman in the combined company:
- Tim Fisher, Chief Operating Officer (currently in same position at Cedar Fair)
- Brian Witherow, Chief Financial Officer (currently in same position at Cedar Fair)
- Brian Nurse, Chief Legal & Compliance Officer, and Corporate Secretary (currently in same position at Cedar Fair)
- Christian Dieckmann, Chief Strategy Officer (currently in same position at Cedar Fair)
- Gary Mick, Chief Integration Officer (currently Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Six Flags)
“We are fortunate to have a proven team of leaders who bring decades of park operating experience and significant expertise in integrating businesses and achieving synergy targets for the combined company,” said Zimmerman. “Their insights and complementary skill sets will be instrumental as we combine two of North America’s iconic amusement park companies and forge a new future together.”
The closing of the Mergers is expected to occur on July 1, 2024, subject to satisfaction or waiver of a number of conditions set forth in the merger agreement, including the satisfaction of regulatory conditions. Upon closing of the transaction, the combined company will operate under the name Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, trade under the ticker symbol “FUN” on the NYSE, and be structured as a C Corporation. The combined company will be headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and will maintain significant finance and administrative operations in Sandusky, Ohio.
Any guesses on the IP they keep? They didn't keep Nickelodeon after the Paramount purchase. My guess is Looney Tunes/DC has better terms given been there so long (although the merger could effect things). I would like to be wrong on that. I don't expect any overnight changes, but wouldn't be surprised if the long run we slowly get everything converted one way or the other.
For branding parks, I expect there to be a long discussion about what they want a Six Flags branded park to be. I doubt we get immediate moves and doubt they are consistent, but could see it used on more parks.
The water parks I think go the other way. Right now all the Six Flags are Hurricane Harbor. I think Cedar Fair has liked changing the names to signify improvements. I think that will continue.
Lord Gonchar:
Branding the company as SF brings far more recognition than going the other direction.
That's not really the point. They don't have to go the other direction. I don't think anyone is rolling up to Dorney saying, "Oh, a Cedar Fair park!" I don't even remember the dumb name that SeaWorld adopted.
But having the corporation using the name even is not without consequence. What do investors think of it?
Jeff - Editor - CoasterBuzz.com - My Blog
Rick_UK:
For my own curiosity, I plotted all the parks on a map and colour coded them by chain.
There isn't much of any market overlap, SFA and KD would be the most obvious, along with KBF and MM, but LA can certainly support both. San Fran is losing CGA at some point, their remainder of parks are relatively spread out. There have been speculations of park closures to consolidate, but I don't really see that being a thing.
The only logical closure is SFA, and if that happens, well whatever I suppose.
Ripping out DC will be much harder to do than the nick stuff. However, I think taking Snoopy out of CP, KI and especially KBF will be equally hard. However given that KI and KBF recently doubled down on their Snoopy areas I don’t think the Beagle is going anywhere. I wonder if they adopt DC keep Snoopy and ditch looney tunes.
2022 Trips: WDW, Sea World San Diego & Orlando, CP, KI, BGW, Bay Beach, Canobie Lake, Universal Orlando
What are the chances the parks are relatively left as they are, free to run as separate entities to their region?
I have to wonder, from a monetary standpoint, if the Peanuts IP is significantly cheaper than the Looney Tunes. If so, that might make sense to keep, dropping the more expensive IP. But then again, that might lead to other parts not making sense.
Back in the Paramount-Cedar Fair merger days, I thought it was a mistake to give up the Nickelodeon IP. For one, it was way more popular at the time. But it also struck me that having different characters and themes in different parks might attract different customers, which would be a good thing.
If the marketing geniuses want to unify things under a consistent brand (which would be a giant mistake, IMO, but what do I know?) then I suspect one or the other gets dropped. Otherwise, assuming you would have to renegotiate fees to expand the usage in either case, why not keep both?
(To clarify, I think the merger is a giant mistake. But again, what do I know?)
I'm guessing cheaper to have one license than two. Cedar Fair gradually dropped Bernstein Bears, Nickelodeon, and Scooby Doo despite this meaning changing areas.
Keep in mind Warner owns both Looney Tunes and DC so they are tied together. They also used to own Six Flags (a ways back now), so a deal could well be longer term as part of the original sale (would less likely be so if happened now).
On the flip side, Bernstein Bears were fading, and Nick was likely expensive. Nickelodeon, while having good characters also had the issue of them being limited in time. Shows would come into and out popularity every few years which could make areas look dated without a lot of upkeep.
I think any transition would likely be slower here and could see something like them holding onto Peanuts at one or two parks to differiate (Knotts being the biggest), but guess one will win out for most the chain.
Agreed Nick was probably expensive, and the Nick folks may not have been interested in renewing - maybe they imagined Nick-lands all over.
It probably is at least marginally cheaper to have one license, but just looking at costs ignores the potential benefits of having both IPs. The promise of the merger, of course, is to wring out duplicate costs, so I won't be surprised if they go that way, even if it reduces revenues in the longer run.
Anyone want to take a guess what this will mean for current passes? Will I be able to use my six flags pass at a cedar fair parks and vice versa??
I would not expect 2024 Cedar Fair passes to work at any Six Flags parks in the second half of 2024. Same for 2024 Six Flags passes at Cedar Fair parks. They may roll out combined passes starting this fall for use in 2025. Would expect a price increase for those (compared to all current chain pass prices) assuming they make combined passes available next season and beyond.
They announced that the 2024 passes will be unchanged. I expect a new pass program next year. We’ll find out in 3 months.
2022 Trips: WDW, Sea World San Diego & Orlando, CP, KI, BGW, Bay Beach, Canobie Lake, Universal Orlando
Certainly seems likely the the cost of passes will be closer to the Cedar Fair model than the Six Flags model (do we have to start calling it "legacy Six Flags"?) Both because it's basically CF's management team in charge, and because the all-park passes will be considerably more valuable than they previously were. Apart from the total number of parks:
- In the NY/Philadelphia area, an all-park pass would get you both Dorney and Great Adventure
- In the DC area, it gets you SF America and Kings Dominion
- In Southern California, you get Knotts and Magic Mountain
- In Northern California, you get Great America (for now) and Discovery Kingdom
- etc.
(Obviously, assuming no divestitures or closures.)
At least in the California markets, I'm not sure the overlap matters that much. For most people, one is going to be much easier to get to than the other, and enthusiasts aside, there isn't that much of a reason to go to both in the same year.
In the past few years, Cedar Fair has pretty much adopted the Six Flags pass strategies. Gold Pass, Summer Pass, Spring Pass. Cedar Point (my home park so most familiar) is barely better than a SF park nowadays. It's too crowded, ops suck, and it's not worth visiting without Fastlane anymore.
I'm overall okay with the merger because I get all season FL every year now. Otherwise it's not worth going at all. The merger will (in theory) allow me access to 2x as many parks with FL already taken care of. So in essence, I'm just buying my way out of the bad experience. If I couldn't do that, I just wouldn't go at all anymore.
As far as the merger ruining the park experience, that was ruined for me years ago. YMMV.
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