France/Austria: Compagnie des Alpes Acquires Familypark Neusiedlersee
Yesterday, French Compagnie des Alpes (CdA) operating group announced the acquisition of a hundred percent of the shares in Austria’s Familypark in the tourist region of Neusiedl Lake at an enterprise value of 72.5 million Euro. The park, which has been owned by the Müller family since its opening in 1968 (cf. our report on “50 years of Familypark” in EAP 6/18) is located just under an hour’s drive from Vienna, around seven million people live in the catchment area of a two-hours’ drive.
The owner family has decided to enter a new phase in their life and devote more time to their private life in the future. “It was not easy for us to make this step. It was a decision of our entire family. One of our sons will continue to work in the park and I, too, will support the new managing director in the coming months […],” explains Ulrike Müller, Park Director. Mario Müller, who took over the park from his father Erwin in 1984, explains, “It was important for us to know that the park would be in good hands. We have carefully considered who we entrust our life’s work to. We wanted to make sure that the park will continue to be run in our spirit and that our guests will be able to enjoy the high quality that we always stood for. Nothing will change for them, in addition, our entire team will continue working in the park, alongside the new management […].”
A total of 716,500 guests visited the leisure destination during the last season, an increase of 15 percent compared to 2017 (cf. Park Report in EAP 2/19). Total revenues amounted to 19.1 million Euros in 2018, the EBITDA was 6.8 million Euros – a success achieved not least thanks to continuous investments in the creation of a versatile visitor offer for families. For future expansions Familypark, which covers an area of some 145,000 square meters, can make use of around 13 hectares of adjacent land reserves.
“This acquisition is perfectly in line with the strategy that the Group has deployed over several years in our parks. It will reinforce the geographical coverage of our very coherent park portfolio. We are, therefore, very pleased to welcome Familypark amongst our sites […],” said Dominique Marcel, Chairman and CEO of CdA. (eap)
