Cedar Fair considered auction before Apollo deal

So, you guys wanna go in and buy CF at a bargin price?

And along comes Norton Auctions...

Patiently waiting for the day when the entire board and corporate management are gone and somebody competent takes over. Could anybody possible be worse then Beavis & Butthead running the company now? I think not.

Speaking of stupid.. After all these years, I JUST finally got what your nic says "mlnem4s".. lol. Duh.....

One of those epiphanies you saw WOW about out loud.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled gripe about park sales.

I don't understand how executives of the chain think that they would have been allowed to make the decision to sell the park at an auction. They are not the only ones who own the park.

The auction would have been subject to the same requirement of unitholder approval. With the current proposed sale, they reached an agreement with Apollo and then solicited bids from other interested parties (receiving no such other bids). That sale will be voted on by the unitholders next week.

Had they gone to auction, CF would not have had the Apollo offer/agreement. They would have sent notices to parties they thought were interested that there would be an auction conducted on X date. Interested folks would have gone to the auction and bid for CF (presumably a minimum bid would have been set with required increments to up the bid). CF would still have needed to seek unitholder approval for the sale to the auction winner.

Concern from what CF has stated is that Apollo may not have participated in an auction process. So there may not have been anyone there. Tough to tell if that was true or just posturing by Apollo.

This smells like Cedar Fair trying to scare their individual unitholders into voting for the sale........

That word "auction" is scary. It conjures up images of those guys from Michigan in the red jackets presiding over the dismemberment of a local institution. When in reality, an auction of the type described would not be significantly different from the sale now proposed. It just wouldn't have a set price or a known buyer.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Glad you figured it out ridemcoaster ; ) Clever cat aren't I?!

So the Wall Street Journal is reporting tonight Apollo and Avenue Capital Management want to merge Cedar Fair and Six Flags. Ha! There are two things I know for sure in life (1) the Apollo deal will be voted down by unit holders and (2) there is no way in hell Six Flags and Cedar Fair will ever be one company. Didn't the Wall Street boys learn anything after the disastor of Burke & Story running Six Flags? (ie. Burke being a financial boy, not a recreation management professional as was evident with the poor operational performance of the parks Shapiro had to clean up)

I wonder how many other share holders are like myself and have yet to receive proxy statements for the big vote? I figured mine should be here by now, but no such luck.

How do you own CF units, Walt? Are they held in a brokerage account? If so, your broker may have gotten your proxy materials.

Not only did I already receive my proxy statement and vote. But, a week later, I received it again. I'm not sure why though.

Maybe they didn't like the way you voted the first time and wanted you to take a mulligan? :)

I got it again as well, this time with the bullet point list. I logged in and voted again, just to make sure.

"On Friday, an independent investment advisory firm, Egan-Jones Proxy Services, issued a report recommending shareholders vote for the sale to Apollo, concluding that it is the best way to maximize shareholder value.

Among its arguments, Egan-Jones said the $11.50 price is a 43 percent increase in share value compared to the value of Cedar Fair shares in the 30 days prior to the announcement of the Apollo deal.

It also said that the volatile economy and the near-term and long-term uncertainty about economic conditions nationally and within the amusement park industry favored approval.

Egan-Jones said that alternatives to the sale were less favorable and a defeat risks a harmful effect on the company’s operations and its relationships with customers and suppliers."

Anybody notice that the recommendation of a so-called "independent" advisory firm reads almost exactly like the press releases issued by CF since the acquisition was announced?

43% increase in price in the 30 days before the deal was announced. Check.
Volatile economy and long-term uncertainty. Check.
Alternatives were less favorable. Check.
Defeat risks a harmful effect on company operations. Check.

The only thing missing is the bullets.