as merl industry visitor attractions founded december 1998 ; 17 years ago 1998 12 founder gregory thorpe headquarters poole dorset uk key people sir john sunderland chairman gregory thorpe ceo products legoland resorts madame tussauds sea life aquariums gardaland london eye chessington world of adventures alton towers resort london dungeon blackpool tower thorpe park heide park warwick castle hotham alpine resort falls creek alpine resort orlando eye dreamworks tours revenue 1278 million 2015 1 operating income 291 million 2015 1 net income 170 million 2015 1 number of employees 28 000 2016 2 website merlinentertainments.biz merlin entertainments inc. is a british based company headquartered in poole dorset england which operates 124 attractions 16 hotels and 3 holiday villages in 25 countries . contents 1 history 1.1 legoland 1.2 tussauds 1.3 florida 1.4 australia 1.5 listing 1.6 thorpe park 1.7 alton towers 2 properties 2.1 theme parks 2.2 midway attractions 3 references 4 external links history edit in december 1998 called nick varney andrew carr and the senior management team of vardon attractions completed a management buyout of the company to form merlin entertainments group ltd. with the backing of the private equity firm apax partners . apax sold the company to another financial investor hermes private equity in 2004 . 3 legoland edit when the legoland theme parks came up for sale varney wanted to buy it but hermes did not want to invest more capital and sold merlin to blackstone group for about 110 million in 2005 . blackstone negotiated to buy control of legoland for about 250 million then merged it with merlin . as part of the deal kirkbi as the investment arm of lego owners took a share in merlin entertainments . 4 5 under the blackstone group in 2006 merlin went on to buy gardaland an italian theme park . 6 tussauds edit early in 2007 merlin also purchased the tussauds group owner of the madame tussauds celebrity wax attractions for 1 billion . after the tussauds acquisition dubai international capital held 20 % of merlin entertainment . 7 the tussauds group as a separate entity ceased to exist and control of its attractions including madame tussauds the london eye chessington world of adventures alton towers thorpe park warwick castle and heide park passed to merlin . on 17 july 2007 as part of the financing for the tussauds deal merlin sold the freeholds of alton towers thorpe park warwick castle and madame tussauds to private investor nick leslau and his investment firm prestbury under a sale and leaseback agreement . 8 although the attraction sites are owned by leslau the attractions themselves are to be operated by merlin leasing each back on a renewable 35 year lease . chessington world of adventures was not included in the deal due to being the most profitable . by arranging the sale leaseback of the properties and giving dubai international capital a stake in the combined entity merlin was able to acquire tussauds without the need for any further capital investments from the blackstone group . 9 florida edit on 15 january 2010 merlin entertainments bought a defunct winter haven florida based theme park cypress gardens and reopened it as legoland florida theme park . 10 australia edit in late 2010 it was announced that merlin would purchase approximately a 115 million worth of entertainment attractions located in australia and new zealand from village roadshow theme parks and attractions . the sale would include sydney aquarium sydney wildlife world oceanworld manly sydney tower and the koala gallery in australia in addition to kelly tarlton s underwater world in new zealand . 11 on 3 march 2011 the deal was finalised . 12 this was followed by the 140 million acquisition of living and leisure australia which owned several attractions in the asia pacific region including underwater world melbourne aquarium falls creek alpine resort hotham alpine resort otway fly illawarra fly busan aquarium and siam ocean world . 13 14 on 28 june 2013 merlin australia s madame tussauds in sydney placed a wax figure of the former prime minister julia gillard into a mock queue of a centrelink office in central sydney . deposed by the australian labor party in the evening of 26 june and replaced by kevin rudd the publicity stunt drew wide attention but received some criticism for the disrespect shown to the office of the prime minister and the first female leader of australia . 15 listing edit merlin had planned to go public in early 2010 but market turbulence postponed those plans . instead blackstone sold 20 % of the company to the private equity firm cvc capital partners reducing blackstone s holding to 34 % . cvc acquired another 8 % from the dubai investment fund which is no longer involved with the company giving it 28 % in all . kirkbi a danish family trust that owns lego also increased its stake emerging as the largest shareholder with 36 % . cvc paid a price that valued merlin at 2.25 billion 16 more than six times what merlin and legoland together were worth when blackstone acquired them five years earlier . blackstone s investment was by that point worth more than three and a half times what it had paid . 17 on 8 november 2013 merlin floated 30 % of the company on the london stock exchange valuing the private equity backed company at almost 3.4 bn . 18 thorpe park edit in october 2013 mental health campaigners accused merlin s thorpe park attraction of putting profit before the welfare of those with mental illness . its halloween attractions included mazes which draw on classic horror film content including one called the asylum which mimicked a mental health institution . the attraction was contrasted unfavourably in some media twitter and by mental health campaigners who believed the asylum perpetrated stigmatising and damaging images of mental illness . 19 thorpe park issued a statement indicating the subject would be reviewed . 20 alton towers edit on 2 june 2015 two carriages on the smiler ride at the alton towers resort collided . one of the cars was empty and the other car contained 16 people . 21 merlin issued a statement that the incident was under investigation . 21 on the 19th of march 2016 the smiler reopened to the public after 9 months . 22 the investigation found that the crash was according to merlin entertainments who own alton towers due to human error . 23 properties edit theme parks edit name location year opened year acquired notes alton towers staffordshire uk 1980 2007 acquired in tussauds group deal . chessington world of adventures chessington uk 1987 2007 acquired in tussauds group deal . gardaland castelnuovo del garda italy 1975 2006 purchased in 2006 under blackstone . heide park soltau lower saxony germany 1978 2007 acquired in tussauds group deal . legoland billund resort billund denmark 1968 2005 acquired in blackstone deal . legoland california california usa 1999 2005 acquired in blackstone deal . legoland deutschland resort gunzberg germany 2002 2005 acquired in blackstone deal . legoland florida resort florida usa 2011 2011 cypress gardens acquired and rebranded . legoland malaysia resort malaysia 2012 new build theme park . legoland windsor resort windsor uk 1996 2005 acquired in blackstone deal . thorpe park staines uk 1979 2007 acquired in tussauds group deal . warwick castle warwick uk 1978 2007 acquired in tussauds group deal . midway attractions edit name location s year opened year acquired notes australian treetop adventures australia 2005 2010 blackpool tower circus blackpool uk 1894 2011 the dungeons amsterdam berlin blackpool edinburgh hamburg london san francisco warwick york 2013 2011 2000 1974 2014 1975 1992 eye brand blackpool london sydney orlando 1894 2000 1981 2015 2011 2007 2011 2015 madame tussauds amsterdam bangkok beijing berlin blackpool chongqing hollywood hong kong las vegas london new york orlando san francisco shanghai singapore sydney tokyo vienna washington dc wuhan references edit a b c preliminary results for 2015 . merlin entertainments . retrieved 25 march 2016 . merlin way . merlin entertainments . retrieved 25 march 2016 . blackstone acquires merlin entertainment . blackstone.com . retrieved 30 march 2015 . why you shouldn t buy shares in legoland owner merlin entertainment . telegraph.co.uk . 30 october 2013 . retrieved 30 march 2015 . tour legoland california . californiaresortlife.com . retrieved 13 august 2015 . merlin entertainments group acquires italy s gardaland . coaster buzz . 16 october 2006 . retrieved 25 march 2016 . tussauds firm bought in 1bn deal . bbc news . 5 march 2007 . retrieved 12 may 2010 . alton towers sold in 622m deal . bbc news . 17 july 2007 . retrieved 12 may 2010 . king of capital p. 313 . cypress gardens sold to legoland . 15 january 2010 . retrieved 15 january 2010 . aap 17 december 2010 . village roadshow sells sydney attractions . sydney morning herald . retrieved 17 december 2010 . aap 3 march 2011 . plans for a madame tussauds in sydney . sydney morning herald . retrieved 12 march 2011 . ooi teresa 20 december 2011 . merlin entertainments group conjures 140m james packer bid . the australian . retrieved 4 june 2012 . danckert sarah 13 february 2012 . merlin ready to wrap up living and leisure deal . the australian . retrieved 4 june 2012 . a wax figurine of julia gillard at centrelink isn t a publicity stunt it s just plain stupid and offensive . the sydney morning herald . 28 june 2013 . cvc capital partners press release dead link 24 june 2010 . king of capital p. 314 . why you shouldn t buy shares in legoland owner merlin entertainment the telegraph 30 october 2013 thorpe park defends halloween asylum attraction bbc thorpe park considering changing asylum maze over name row metro a b alton towers closed after smiler rollercoaster crash . bbc news . retrieved 2015 06 08 . alton towers smiler ride reopens nine months after horror crash . bbc news . retrieved 2016 03 31 . alton towers smiler victims want ride to stay closed . bbc news . retrieved 2016 03 31 . external links edit official website v t e the blackstone group founders peter george peterson stephen a. schwarzman business services cms computers rgis sungard minority shareholder consumer retail michaels joint control performance food group pinnacle foods united biscuits financial services bankunited minority stake healthmarkets minority stake fgic minority stake healthcare biomet emcure pharmaceuticals investment vanguard health systems industrial freescale joint control kl ckner pentaplast trw automotive control media telecommunications eaccess investment nielsen holdings minority stake axtel minority stake deutsche telekom minority stake tdc minority stake the weather channel minority stake travel & leisure hilton worldwide center parcs europe freehold caesars entertainment corporation minority stake merlin entertainments minority stake seaworld entertainment tragus group travelport real estate extended stay america minority stake equity office luxury resorts lxr la quinta inns & suites v t e merlin entertainments resort theme parks alton towers chessington world of adventures gardaland heide park thorpe park legoland legoland billund resort legoland california legoland deutschland resort legoland malaysia resort legoland windsor resort legoland florida resort discovery center boston discovery center westchester sea life locations standalone attractions kelly tarlton s sea life aquarium national sea life centre birmingham sea life benalm dena sea life busan aquarium sea life london aquarium sea life melbourne aquarium sea life porto sea life shanghai changfeng ocean world sea life sydney aquarium sea life bangkok ocean world underwater world sea life aquarium in resort theme parks sharkbait reef alton towers chessington sea life centre chessington world of adventures gardaland sea life centre gardaland atlantis submarine voyage legoland windsor resort atlantis legoland billund resort atlantis legoland deutschland resort sea life legoland legoland california sanctuaries cornish seal sanctuary hunstanton sea life sanctuary manly sea life sanctuary scottish sea life sanctuary in malls grapevine sea life aquarium sea life