Japan's H.I.S. sells Huis Ten Bosch theme park to Hong Kong fund PAG

Aug 31 (Nikkei) - Japanese travel agency H.I.S. said Tuesday that it will sell Huis Ten Bosch, a Dutch-themed amusement park in Nagasaki prefecture, to Hong Kong-based investment fund PAG.

H.I.S. will transfer its 66.7% stake in the park to PAG HTB Holdings, a special-purpose company, in exchange for 66.6 billion yen ($480 million) at the end of September. It expects to book an extraordinary profit of 64.6 billion yen from the deal for its fiscal year ending October.

The remaining 33.3% stake, held by Kyushu Electric Power, Saibu Gas Holdings and three other local companies, will be sold to Huis Ten Bosch itself. The fate of these shares is "undecided" at this point, H.I.S. said.

Overall, the price for Huis Ten Bosch will total around 100 billion yen.

The sale comes as H.I.S. suffers from a protracted downturn in overseas travel, stemming from Japan's strict COVID-19 border restrictions and a weak yen. It booked a net loss of 26.9 billion yen in the November-April half, a record for this period. The company hopes the deal, combined with a capital reduction pending approval at a shareholders meeting in October, will help spur its recovery. ...continue reading

Source: TBS NEWS

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