Dentons advised Spanish-headquartered Parques Reunidos on the acquisition, through its US subsidiary Palace Entertainment, of Adventureland, a leisure park in Altoona, Iowa. Adventureland, which has been operating as a family-owned business since 1974, offers more than 100 rides, shows, and family attractions.
It was a highly complex transaction due to its cross-border nature (the US and Spanish jurisdictions) and the nature of the assets since, as the transaction was structured as an asset acquisition, a detailed and complex identification of the assets subject to the transaction was needed, as well as considering the applicable industry legislation, where applicable.
Parques Reunidos in-house Legal team was led by Cristina Carro, chief Legal officer at Parques Reunidos and counted on Alejandro Díez Barturen, Corporate, M&A and Business Development Legal director. On the transaction, ONTIER´s spokesperson said: “It was a pleasure to work with Cristina Carro and Alejandro Díez Barturen, from PRSC, on this transaction.”
A Dentons cross-border team advised as lead counsel to the purchaser, performing legal due diligence and drafting transaction documents. The Dentons team consisted of partners Jason Stone and John Pietila in Des Moines, Iowa, and partner Jesús Durán in Madrid. They worked closely with Cristina Carro Werner, Chief Legal Officer at Parques Reunidos, who led the deal on the client-side.
ONTIER has provided secondment advice to PRSC’s Legal team on the acquisition of the Adventureland complex (comprised of amusement park, hotel, and campground) located in IOWA, USA. ONTIER´s team was led by Victor Artola, co-head of ONTIER Spain’s Corporate and M&A practice, Ana Contreras, Corporate and M&A Lawyer, María Barbed, Corporate and M&A Lawyer.
Parques Reunidos, a portfolio company of private equity house EQT, is an international entertainment and leisure group that operates more than 60 different assets – including theme parks, zoos, marine parks, water parks and lodging properties -in 14 countries around the world. Following the acquisition, Palace Entertainment plans to invest in the expansion of Adventureland, by adding eight new rides in 2022 and an additional two new attractions in 2023.
