The Walt Disney Company now owns 97.08% of Euro Disney S.C.A. - mandatory buyout will follow!

Donald Dutch

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
This morning, The Walt Disney Company released a press statement revealing Disney’s intention to purchase all the remaining shares in Euro Disney S.C.A. and support a recapitalization of up to €1.5 billion for the Euro Disney group to enable the group to continue implementation of improvements to Disneyland Paris, reduce debt and increase liquidity. Key points of the press statement:

- The Walt Disney Company ("Disney") announces the acquisition of 90% of Kingdom Holding Company's ("Kingdom") interest in Euro Disney S.C.A. ("Euro Disney"), representing 9% of Euro Disney's outstanding shares.

- The proposed transaction will increase Disney's interest in Euro Disney to 85.7% from 76.7%.

- The price for the transaction is €2.00 per share and will be paid in shares of Disney common stock.

- Disney also announces its intention to make a cash tender offer for all remaining outstanding shares of Euro Disney at a price of €2.00 per share, representing a 67% premium to Euro Disney's trading price at its close on February 9, 2017.

- Subsequent to the completion of the tender offer, Disney is committed to support a recapitalization of up to €1.5 billion for the Euro Disney group of companies ("Group") to address the Group's financial needs.

Complete article can be found here.

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Update 13-06-2017: The Walt Disney Company has been successful in their Cash Offer for Euro Disney SCA reaching 97.08%. A mandatory buyout procedure will now follow.
 
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SorcererMC

Well-Known Member
As to why this is happening sooner rather than later - from the Euro Disney 2016 Reference Document: around page 57/116

The Group’s high level of borrowings requires the Group to devote a significant portion of its operating cash flow to service debt.

As of September 30, 2016, the Group had consolidated borrowings of €1.1 billion and a negative equity of
€140 million.
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The Group has regularly incurred losses and is not certain to generate profits in the near future.
The Group’s net loss for Fiscal Year 2016 amounted to €858 million, compared to a net loss of €102 million and
€114 million in Fiscal Years 2015 and 2014, respectively.​

Also - attendance is down to 13.4 mln from 14.8 mln in 2015 and 14.2 mln in 2014. Aside from Brexit, the report cites:
Consistent with the broader tourism industry in Europe, the Group has recently been impacted by the challenging economic and
geopolitical environment and its subsequent impact on consumer behavior and spending. The Group notably faced
difficult external factors impacting Paris tourism, including strikes, exceptionally poor weather and floods, as well as
acute public security concerns.​
 
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deix15x8

Active Member
This should be great news for the resorts future. In addition to the access to resources and support, I'm sure we'll see far more cross promotion with the resorts in the US. This resort is turning 25 years old this year and yet when I went last year 99% of the people I mentioned it to had no idea that Disneyland Paris even existed. Even Disney people I talk to aren't very aware of the international resorts. Their is a whole market for Americans taking European vacations to visit. We spent 5 nights during a vacation that started in London, then went to Paris, followed by Barcelona, and ended with a cruise back to the USA for some time in Florida. It just worked as a great place to stay in France that ensured we would be comfortable and safe with so much going on right now.

Now that Disney is hoping to get to 100% ownership though, I'm waiting to see what we see about DVC in the resort. They still have renovations on the calendar for the hotel New York and Disneyland Hotel that could easily get a wing converted.
 

Disneysea05

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
This should be great news for the resorts future. In addition to the access to resources and support, I'm sure we'll see far more cross promotion with the resorts in the US. This resort is turning 25 years old this year and yet when I went last year 99% of the people I mentioned it to had no idea that Disneyland Paris even existed. Even Disney people I talk to aren't very aware of the international resorts.

I don't think they are Disney people then, they're Disney World people. And that's ok, but now that I've seen what the international Disney destinations offer, it would have been a shame if I only ever experienced Disneyland and Walt Disney World.
 

deix15x8

Active Member
Do we have any updates on the progress of this? I remember their being a June deadline that the Walt Disney Company wanted a verdict on if they were forcibly buying out the remaining shares or remaining as is.
 

cjkeating

Well-Known Member
Do we have any updates on the progress of this? I remember their being a June deadline that the Walt Disney Company wanted a verdict on if they were forcibly buying out the remaining shares or remaining as is.

The share buyout ends on June 8th. Not sure how long after that do we find out if they reached 95% but I don't think it will be long. At the moment they are still a long way off around 87% so unless all the big deals happen on the last day I don't think they will reach 95%.
 

Sir_Cliff

Well-Known Member
Hopefully this means some review of how DLP is run. I was there for 3 days last week and, while I had a great time, I was still struck by how many opportunities to make money they seem to forgo. For example, I'll never understand the economic logic of closing the ice cream parlour at the end of Main Street just as thousands of people gather outside its doors on a hot summer's night to watch the fireworks show. The studios also closed very early (6pm) despite being crowded and we had to take 5pm as the latest available dinner reservation at Bistrot Chez Remy. As we were waiting, they were turning away walk-ins on the pretext the restaurant was full yet it ended up being 3/4 empty. I assume this was due to the huge production that later ensued to walk us out of the park when dinner finished.

On the other hand, It's a Small World and Big Thunder Mountain looked amazing while Hyperspace Mountain was pretty awesome.
 

nerdboyrockstar

Well-Known Member
Hopefully this means some review of how DLP is run. I was there for 3 days last week and, while I had a great time, I was still struck by how many opportunities to make money they seem to forgo. For example, I'll never understand the economic logic of closing the ice cream parlour at the end of Main Street just as thousands of people gather outside its doors on a hot summer's night to watch the fireworks show. The studios also closed very early (6pm) despite being crowded and we had to take 5pm as the latest available dinner reservation at Bistrot Chez Remy. As we were waiting, they were turning away walk-ins on the pretext the restaurant was full yet it ended up being 3/4 empty. I assume this was due to the huge production that later ensued to walk us out of the park when dinner finished.

On the other hand, It's a Small World and Big Thunder Mountain looked amazing while Hyperspace Mountain was pretty awesome.

I agree. I was also turned away at dinner when the restaurant was clearly half-empty (this was the one near Big Thunder..) but I would say it was still about 3 hours from closing time for the park.
 

Sir_Cliff

Well-Known Member
I agree. I was also turned away at dinner when the restaurant was clearly half-empty (this was the one near Big Thunder..) but I would say it was still about 3 hours from closing time for the park.
Overall, they are very strange at DLP about closing things off early. They seemed to be using the (rather low key) fireworks show as an excuse to close off not just the castle courtyard, but all of Fantasyland and most of Adventureland more than half an hour before the rest of the park. They did have more shops on Main Street USA open this time around than I remember from previous visits at closing, but it's still surprising to me how much they close and how quickly they close the few things that do remain open past the fireworks & projection show. It seemed like a 20 minute or so window to do some shopping before the doors started closing. Surely those things stay open in the US because they make more money during that final rush of people out of the park?
 

Robbiem

Well-Known Member
I completely agree about the strange early closing. When we visited a few years ago we were only able to eat because we had an early dinner because it was raining. The cast members actually chained the door up while we were in the lady and the tramp pizzeria! I couldn't believe that there was two hours before the fireworks with no food places open on a public holiday when the park was packed
 

Sir_Cliff

Well-Known Member
I completely agree about the strange early closing. When we visited a few years ago we were only able to eat because we had an early dinner because it was raining. The cast members actually chained the door up while we were in the lady and the tramp pizzeria! I couldn't believe that there was two hours before the fireworks with no food places open on a public holiday when the park was packed
I know wages are higher in France, but I really don't know how this approach makes economic sense. Aren't food, beverage, and merch big revenue streams for theme parks? That said, I find it hard to see how the whole French service economy works. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the country and visit as often as I can. But, on my trip last week as on every trip it seems, we soon started joking about typical French service which always seemed to involve three people hired to do the job you'd expect one person to do and taking three times as long to do it.

On the plus side, the language skills of Disneyland Paris cast members are quite something to behold. I swear they all seemed to speak at least French, English, and Spanish.
 

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