Get ready, Shamu: You could be going public.
According to a Reuters report, SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment is close to filing for an IPO. The company has selected Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) as the lead bankers, and the offering could reach $500 million to $600 million.
Founded in the mid-1960s, the aquatic theme park chain has 11 locations across the U.S. and attracts about 25 million visitors per year.
Back in late 2009, the Blackstone Group (NYSE:BX) purchased SeaWorld from Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE:BUD) for $2.3 billion.
Blackstone already has taken actions to monetize its investment, including giving itself a dividend from a $500 million loan earlier this year, as well as a $100 million payout in 2011.
Tom Taulli runs the InvestorPlace blog IPO Playbook, a site dedicated to the hottest news and rumors about initial public offerings. He is also the author of “How to Create the Next Facebook” and “High-Profit IPO Strategies: Finding Breakout IPOs for Investors and Traders.” Follow him on Twitter at @ttaulli. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
A long-time follower of the IPO scene, back in 1999 Tom started one of the first sites in the space called WebIPO. It was a place where investors got research as well as access to deals for the dot-com boom. Tom also wrote the top-selling book, Investing in IPOs. In it, he covers all the aspects of analyzing an IPO, such as reading the prospectus, detecting the risk factors and understanding some of the arcane regulations. But don’t worry — if that process is too intimidating for you, thankfully Tom will do the legwork for you right here in the IPO Playbook blog.
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