De Pardieu Brocas Maffei advised the Looping Group in connection with the acquisition of West Midland Safari Park (“WMSP”) from SafariWorld Holdings Limited.
Located in the Worcestershire, at a 45-minute driving distance from Birmingham (UK), WMSP is a regional wildlife park with a safari-drive-through and a pedestrian area, as well as some attractions. It recorded sales of approximately £17 million and attracted around 700,000 visitors this year.
WMSP is the fifteenth park and second park in the UK for Looping. It is the fourth add-on acquisition since Ergon entered as the new anchor investor of the Group, after the acquisition of the German attraction park Fort Fun in April 2017, of the French wildlife park Zoo de La Flèche in November 2017 and of the Portuguese aquatic park Amarante last December.
Looping is a leading operator of regional amusement parks in Europe. The group consists of 15 parks located in France, Switzerland, Netherlands, UK, Spain, Portugal and Germany. Proforma of the acquisition of WMSP, Looping will count around 4.3 million visitors per annum for a turnover in excess of €100 million.