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.
Ah, fastlane, the one thing that I believe six flags got right above all others. Those Q-Bot's or whatever you called them were the hands down best implementation of line skip I've ever used. If CF adopts anything from six flags, make it that.
I keep trying to figure out if I'm just visiting a different Cedar Point than y'all or have different expectations. I suspect it's at least partly the latter. I've been on everything already so there's no need to do any particular thing on any particular visit. If I end up hanging out on the flats and the Coasters Of My Youth, fine. But there are definitely days when a large swath of the park has tolerable waits.
hambone:
and because the all-park passes will be considerably more valuable than they previously were. Apart from the total number of parks
I never saw this as being a real big value-add. Sure, you get access to more parks, but you can still only go to one at a time. All the effort to visit remote parks is on the passholder; all CG sees is a turnstile turning at the visited park instead of the home park. Still just +1 attendance.
If anything, CFlags should keep all parks upcharge low, as I feel folks traveling to a non-home park are more likely to buy onsite resort lodging, souvenirs, dining, etc at the park they're visiting, CF gets a little more money from them.
TheMillenniumRider:
Ah, fastlane, the one thing that I believe six flags got right above all others. Those Q-Bot's or whatever you called them were the hands down best implementation of line skip I've ever used. If CF adopts anything from six flags, make it that.
I prefer Fastlane because there's no ride-reservation step. Just walk up the FL entrance, scan and board.
Well, in any case, when I price an all-park pass for Cedar Fair (on the Dorney site) it comes out at $235, vs the $108 I'm paying Six Flags. I suspect that's the direction things are going in.
Dorney sounds about right, it's $100 or so upcharge on the normal pass price. I think that's a pretty good price point; I wouldn't want to see the upcharge go much higher.
I've not looked at SF pricing lately as there's no nearby parks, but to me 108 for all parks seems too cheap to successfully operate. It looks like they're still "giving away the gate" as I've see folks here refer to it. I guess a single-park season pass is well under $100?
When I made it a point to travel to more parks, over time I started to get kind of jaded. Coasters may be different, but most aren't that different. At least, not enough to warrant special trips for. When I still lived in Cleveland, I was content to have access to CP and KI, sure, but I wasn't going out of my way to visit the others. I suspect that, as a percentage, the folks who get value from multi-park arrangements greater than two is very, very small.
Jeff - Editor - CoasterBuzz.com - My Blog
By the end of the year I’ll have visited:
-Cedar Point x7
-Lake Erie Shores x2
-Kings Island x4
-Worlds of Fun x1
-Schlitterbahn Galveston x2
-Schlitterbahn New Braunfels x3
-Knotts Berry Farm x2
It’s a high use year for me (I even have a dining plan for the first time) I’m usually lucky to eek out 5-8 visits total. Not too bad for being 7 hours away from the closest of these parks.
2022 Trips: WDW, Sea World San Diego & Orlando, CP, KI, BGW, Bay Beach, Canobie Lake, Universal Orlando
Oh no doubt, it’s an outlier year for me personally and I’m an outlier at baseline.
2022 Trips: WDW, Sea World San Diego & Orlando, CP, KI, BGW, Bay Beach, Canobie Lake, Universal Orlando
I keep trying to figure out if I'm just visiting a different Cedar Point than y'all or have different expectations.
I feel like people are out of their mind comparing CP or KI hell even Dorney to any SF park, especially since last fall, the beginning of this year. The ops, and staffing levels have recovered from the pandemic, and inflation havoc, and returning Sups. The landscaping, maintenance, placemaking, and food is way better then the Kinzel era, yes Live E is a bit scaled back but it exist and is award winning compared to squat at many SF parks. Great Adventure one of the A parks, has two rides for its 50th still under construction, its sky ride borded up, one to two train if lucky ops, parking at $40, and food that is laughable compared to any CF park. And the aforementioned $108 season pass. Then if you want to feel real bad go to SFA.
If you think ops has slid at CP try going to Kings Dominion. Hell the ops at CP last fall made the ops look lethargic at BGW same time frame. Helll the food at Seas has really leveled down as well.
metallik:
buy onsite resort lodging
Especially at Great Adventure! I ask this out of ignorance but how many Six Flags / Cedar Fair parks have onsite lodging other than Cedar Point?
Jeff:
When I made it a point to travel to more parks, over time I started to get kind of jaded. Coasters may be different, but most aren't that different
100% agree. The Six Flags parks that I've been to have all been familiar. The atmosphere and collection of rides isn't really different enough to warrant a special trip. Now Knoebel's on the other hand. Plus it's in the area of everything!
Hell, I thought more of their parks would have lodging but looks like it ain't so. Guess seasonal parks can't really support it outside of CP?
Hershey has a hotel and they are seasonal. Do they really do that much more business, or are more of a destination park? I would venture to guess others could support a hotel. Knott’s, Kings Island? Not sure who else really could.
If they focused on being a multi day destination, with theme/water/restaurants, sick a spa in there, a couple sick hotels with awesome pools…. Nah I guess not.
I suppose it’s a case of if x park needed a hotel they would already have one.
Knotts has a hotel, and it was just remodeled this year.
KI has a hotel partner, and campground but with name only CF doesn’t run them like at CP.
Cedar Point is what it is because of location obviously.
The SF parks all depend who built it first for vibe, GrAdv with lake and surrounded by woods, and unique pre SF themeing feels unique, ditto obv SFMM. Fiesta obv has the most unique location, and feel. Much like Worlds of Fun on the CF side, the base park was unique and different enough before bring absorbed.
Worlds of Fun, Knott's, Carowinds, and Schlitterbahn New Braunfels all have on-site hotels and/or campgrounds. Kings Dominion has a campground but I don't think it's on-site.
Kings Island used to have the Kings Island Inn, it got bulldozed years ago and never replaced. There's a ton of hotels just to the south anyway.
The Hotel Hershey, if that’s what you’re referring to, is an old upscale resort hotel with meeting areas, spas, and fine dining that caters to travelers and honeymooners year round. Once again we’re caught assuming that an area’s tourist activities revolve solely around it’s theme park.
Yeah never forget Hotel Breakers was a beach hotel and built first, Cedar Point came after.
2022 Trips: WDW, Sea World San Diego & Orlando, CP, KI, BGW, Bay Beach, Canobie Lake, Universal Orlando
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