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UK firm eyes S’pore Flyer

SINGAPORE — Merlin Entertainments Group, the British company behind the wildly successful London Eye, is considering buying the Singapore Flyer, which was recently placed under receivership, as part of plans to expand further into Asia.

SINGAPORE — Merlin Entertainments Group, the British company behind the wildly successful London Eye, is considering buying the Singapore Flyer, which was recently placed under receivership, as part of plans to expand further into Asia.

And if the deal is sealed, it could bring in a Madame Tussauds wax museum to boost the appeal of the Flyer.

“We have been talking, on and off, to the company for the past year or so because of our association with the London Eye and we think it is a very attractive product with a great view of the Singapore skyline,” Merlin’s Strategy Director David Bridgford said during a trip to Singapore.

The 165-metre-high Singapore Flyer, the world’s tallest Ferris wheel, was placed in receivership at the end of May for failing to meet financial obligations to banks, just five years after it was launched to great fanfare.

Mr Bridgford said there was nothing wrong with the concept of the S$240-million Flyer, except that the company was probably undercapitalised. “Perhaps they compared themselves with London which is a much bigger market than Singapore and I think they got their capital structure wrong,” he added.

Mr Bridgford would not say how much Merlin would be willing to pay for the Flyer or if he had met with the company’s receivers during his trip. But he did say that if Merlin did purchase the Flyer, it would market it as part of a cluster of attractions here, which could also include a Madame Tussauds. The group already owns and operates 14 Madame Tussauds wax museums in a number of cities including Bangkok, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo.

“It all depends on whether we can get a suitable site (for the Madame Tussauds),” Mr Bridgford said.

He also pointed out that there was already a regular bus link between the Flyer and Merlin’s LEGOLAND Theme Park in Johor’s Iskandar complex, whose popularity has surprised even Merlin after achieving more than a million visitors in its first four months.

The Flyer’s receivers, Ferrier Hodgson, is said to have obtained interest from both local and overseas parties for the complex, which includes a number of retail outlets and several eateries.

Merlin, which describes itself as the world’s second-largest visitor attraction operator after Disney with 54 million visitors worldwide last year, is keen on bringing other attractions to Singapore, including a LEGOLAND Discovery Centre and The Dungeons.

While the United Kingdom and Europe currently account for the bulk of its business, Merlin would like to see Asia account for one-third of its business, and Europe and US also having a third each. Its Asian operations currently account for 14 per cent of its visitors, up from just 2 per cent three years ago.

Likewise, it will invest one-third of the roughly £50 million (S$97 million) it spends on new investments each year in Asia, especially in China, Japan and South Korea.

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