SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. and Cedar Fair LP fell after plans for a potential merger of the two theme park companies fell apart.
SeaWorld said that its offer to acquire Cedar Fair was rejected and the company doesn’t see a path forward for a deal. Bloomberg had reported that the bid was about $60 per unit, or around $3.4 billion, a price that some Wall Street analysts said could be too low.
Both companies have been seeing business rebound after closures in the early days of the pandemic eroded tourism. The theme park industry remains fairly fragmented in the U.S. despite being dominated by a half-dozen major players. The merger would have combined SeaWorld’s 12 theme and water parks with Cedar Fair’s 13 properties in the U.S. and Canada.
Orlando, Florida-based SeaWorld fell as much as 3.3 percent Wednesday in New York. Cedar Fair, based in Sandusky, Ohio, dropped as much as 8.3 percent in its biggest intraday slide since July 19.
Analysts have speculated that other bidders for Cedar Fair may emerge. Six Flags Entertainment Corp. reportedly proposed a takeover at about $70 a share in 2019, but that offer was rejected. A hostile deal for Cedar Fair would be very difficult since its limited partnership structure requires a super-majority holder vote in any change of control event.
