£30m windfall as Tussauds is sold

Ian Lyall|Daily Mail13 April 2012

THE boss of Tussauds Group and 70 employees who own a 15% stake in the company will share a £30m windfall following the company's £800m sale by its private equity owner to a Dubai investment firm.

Three directors, including chief executive Peter Phillipson, are expected to reinvest at least half their stake in the newly-owned business.

They are in the money after venture capital giant Charterhouse Capital Partners finally found a buyer for the London waxworks owner after aborted attempts to try to float and sell the group over the past few years.

Buyer Dubai International Capital, an investment firm set up last year by the Arab state, is paying £100m less than Charterhouse was rumoured to be looking for from its investment.

But the venture capitalist will still book a tidy profit on the deal. Charterhouse bought Tussauds from Financial Times owner Pearson in 1998 for £352m, though it recently recapitalised the firm.

DIC has pledged to continue the expansion of the famous waxworks museum and the other tourist attractions owned by the group.

It is also on the lookout for other visitor attractions to add to its growing portfolio. It already owns a share of the London Eye and theme parks Alton Towers, Chessington-World of Adventures and Thorpe Park. Overseas it runs Heide Park in Germany.

The acquisition of Tussauds is the first private equity deal for DIC, which recently bought a 1% stake in car-maker Daimler-Chrysler for £530m.

DIC was set up to compete with the world's largest buyout firms and is said to be ultimately controlled by the crown prince of Dubai, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum.

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