Six Flags sell seven parks for $312 million

Six Flags Inc. announced that it has sold three water parks and four theme parks for $312 million parks to Jacksonville, Fla.-based PARC 7F-Operations Corp as part of its efforts to reduce $2.2 billion of debt. With this sale, Six Flags will have raised $352 million in gross cash proceeds, including the June 2006 sale of land in Houston, to pay down debt.

Six Flags, Inc. is the world's largest regional theme park company. Through subsidiaries, the company owns and operates a total of 27 parks in North America. Six Flags parks serve 34 of the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the United States. Six Flags, Inc. is a publicly held corporation with corporate offices in New York City and Dallas.

The seven parks include Six Flags Darien Lake in Buffalo, N.Y.; Six Flags Elitch Gardens in Denver; Frontier City and the White Water Bay water park in Oklahoma City; SplashTown in Houston; Waterworld USA in Concord, Calif.; and Wild Waves and Enchanted Village in Seattle.

In 2005, there had been a shake-up in the board of Six Flags after investor Daniel Snyder won a long-running battle for control of the company. The amusement park operator has been reworking its business since then. Six Flags had earlier planned to sell up to nine parks, will receive $275 million in cash and a note receivable for $37 million.

PARC will simultaneously sell the parks to CNL Income Properties Inc., a Florida-based real estate investment trust, and lease them from CNL. The transaction is expected to be completed in March 2007.

The company has retained the Magic Mountain and the Hurricane Harbor water park in Valencia, Calif., and will be open for business in 2007.

Moreover, obligations for 2007 season passes and any committed park events will continue to be fulfilled under the new ownership. Moreover any 2007 season passes purchased will continue to be honored at all Six Flags branded parks.

Shares of Six Flags, the second-largest U.S. theme-park operator behind Walt Disney Co., gained 40 cents, or 7.4 percent, to $5.83 as of 9:44 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.