M&A Advisory: theme-parks & visitor attractions.

Since the founding of 9 Degrees West in 2018, we have assisted many professional investment and consultancy firms across the world. Typically these assignments are part of an industry benchmarking exercise or as in the case of Gimv, a need for M&A Advisory.

Ben is an IAAPA member in good standing and regular attendee at global conferences and EXPOs. This together with his in-depth knowledge gained at Merlin and Disney makes him an idea “river guide” for investors new to the industry.

Gimv is a European investment company with almost four decades’ experience of investing in private companies. Listed on Euronext Brussels since 1997, Gimv manages around 1.1 billion EUR invested in about 55 portfolio companies.  They focus on 4 platforms; Connected Consumer, Health & Care, Smart Industries and Sustainable Cities.

European Theme Park market assessment

Gimv recently contracted 9 Degrees West to conduct due diligence on the European theme park market, and one multi-park operator in particular. Given our deep understanding of the market, and the network we maintain across the industry, we were able to provide rapid and high value assessment from desk-based research. In addition to this at the request of our client, we visited the sites and conducted a detailed review and written report into the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing the operator in question.

“We appointed Ben to conduct commercial due diligence and advisory on a European theme park business in the context of a competitive M&A process.

Since our first contact we have been impressed by Ben’s knowledge and expertise of the theme park market, the various players and industry dynamics. He also demonstrated a good understanding of our needs as investors and over-performed on the set objectives within the agreed timeframe.

Finally and not less important, Ben has an entrepreneurial and proactive mindset combined with a unique sense of humour that was highly appreciated by all members of our deal team.”

Nicolas De Bruyne,
Associate, Connected Consumer, Gimv

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