Cedar Fair and Six Flags merger to complete July 1, mostly Cedar Fair executives to lead new company
Posted
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.
Lord Gonchar:
(I came back and did the edit to add the Yakov photo and realized it's such a dated reference that adding the pic probably makes it even more confusing. This has to be hilarious if you have no idea what's going on.)
I was stuck at home with Covid a few weeks ago and came across one of the cable networks running all day marathons of the original Night Court. Yakov was a semi-regular guest star where he essentially played himself.
Was thinking of that.
Is the current Cedar Fair basically a continutation of the company founded by Beckling? I know it was reorganized when they bought Valleyfair, but is it essentially a continuation? I looked through one time and figured it probably was.
I think if CF had different leadership, I'd view this differently. I'm the Ouimet era, it would feel like the Six Flags parks being saved. At the moment, it just feels like an expansion of early aughts SF failed strategy.
And there are some shining stars in the chain, but not many. If you know, you know.
Jeff - Editor - CoasterBuzz.com - My Blog
I miss Ouimet too, but the reality is that the CF parks are still much better managed than SF. A great illustration of that was going from California's Great America to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom during CoasterCon two weeks ago. It was a night and day difference.
Since I believe the current CEO has a complete disregard and frankly, disdain, for Sandusky and Cedar Point, I hope the decision is made to put everything in Sandusky up for sale as well as Knott’s (which I bet the family isn’t happy about the future of “their park” under Six Flags mgmt.) They both would fetch a decent price which would contribute significantly to debt reduction at “FUN” post merger and everyone can move on.
^^ This is perhaps one of the most illogical and misguided comments I've read for a long time.
Who said that Zimmerman has "complete disregard and, frankly, disdain" for Sandusky and Cedar Point? Just because they moved management to Charlotte doesn't mean they gave up on the park. It still receives tons of money every year. Charlotte probably is just a more attractive city to move to instead of a tiny town an hour from Cleveland.
As for Knott's, the family sold the park to Cedar Fair in 1997. They have zero say in the operation or direction of the park. Also, Knott's recently completed a multi-million dollar renovation of Camp Snoopy and the hotel; does that sound like a park that's about to be unloaded? It's the only year-round park in the chain so aside from pass sales it's their only source of revenue in the winter. (edit: yeah I know they gain a couple from SF so use your imagination)
I don't believe Charlotte is a more livable town than Sandusky.
That said, if I were the CEO of a national company, I would likely choose Charlotte over Sandusky for my HQ. It is certainly more centrally located to all of the Six Flags and Cedar Fair parks.
I fly "home" to Sandusky pretty regularly, and it isn't the easiest place to come and go. Flights are limited, and direct flights even more so. As for costs, it is almost always cheaper for me to fly to Detroit, which adds an hour on the drive.
The finance and banking footprint is more robust in Charlotte as well. The weather is certainly better. You can darn near golf year-round in Charlotte.
Zimmerman may or may not like Sandusky...but I'm not sure it is relevant.
"You can dream, create, design, and build the most wonderful place in the world...but it requires people to make the dreams a reality." -Walt Disney
New corporate website up. Have the Cedar Fair flag in the Six Flags i. https://investors.sixflags....fault.aspx
On the leadership view of Cedar Point/Sandusky, I could see some level of annoyance. A lot of old Paramount people in high places now. They were running things from Charlotte and a lot might not have been helped short term with Cedar Fair buying out.
I don't think that would raise to the level of wanting to undermine what is likely the most profitable park, but it likely is just viewed as a big park now and not the flagship.
Charlotte is also the second largest banking and financial center outside of Manhattan. It makes way more sense to have corporate here. One thing Paramount Parks (and eventually CF) figured out.
The choice in flights to Cleveland are not good. From MCO, there aren't a lot of directs, and it's a lot of Frontier, which I hate. I can get to CLT in a million different ways. Choosing Charlotte to headquarter a $8b company over Sandusky is not a hard choice.
Jeff - Editor - CoasterBuzz.com - My Blog
I'm not convinced Wall Street likes this merger today. FUN down 3.39% and SIX down 3.5%. (https://www.google.com/fina...NYSE%3ASIX)
I always see speculation that the merged company is going to sell parks to "pay down debt". To what end? The 2 companies have a combined debt of somewhere around $5 billion. The small parks are going to be a drop in the bucket and they're all probably turning a profit. The bigger legacy parks are likely turning a huge profit and even the largest of those parks aren't going to make a significant dent in that debt. And even if it did, the tradeoff is losing all of the income those parks are bringing in. Any time I read that suggestion I think I'm hearing from someone who thinks that big corporate debt is handled the same way as you and me starting a Dave Ramsey debt snowball.
Here's a quick feel good video from Richard Zimmerman:
And here's a Q&A posted on all legacy Cedar Fair park websites:
My biggest question is not about a pass but about that CapEx Pie, cause the fixing the huge blindspots at the CF parks is like 82% complete. But the SF parks save a few, and even those need some work. At least they should be able to finance SF projects to open at beginning of a season now.
Also saw that Worlds of Fun has a large and detailed museum exhibit for it’s 50th, and somehow CP still has none! Hopefully all the stuff from Melt can mix with the 150th plan, and they can finish Town Hall.
Has anyone heard anything if this has affected the ownership structure of SFOG and SFOT? IIRC, Six Flags Corporate did not own 100% of both parks as their original owners still had shares. I may have details wrong, but I remember that being mentioned in a thread at some point. Not sure if those details are public area as part of the “merger”.
Enjoy the rest of your day at America's Rockin' Roller Coast! Ride On!
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