Equity group may buy Busch Gardens, other parks

NEW YORK

The private equity firm Blackstone Group is considering buying Anheuser-Busch InBev's theme parks, including Busch Gardens and Water Country USA in Williamsburg, Dow Jones Newswires reported Wednesday.

A spokesman for New York-based Blackstone said any comment would be premature. A spokesman for Anheuser-Busch InBev declined to comment.

Dow Jones, citing unnamed sources, reported that Blackstone was thinking about buying the theme parks, including three SeaWorld venues and two Busch Gardens parks, operated under Busch Entertainment Corp.

The Web sites of Busch Gardens and Water Country USA do not list the size of their work forces. But together they ranked as the fourth-largest employer in the region, with about 5,000 employees, in 2006, according to a study by Old Dominion University economist James Koch. They were surpassed only by Northrop Grumman, Sentara Healthcare and Riverside Health System.

Water Country USA alone is the second-largest employer in James City County, behind the Williamsburg-James City County school system, according to the Virginia Employment Commission.

Anheuser-Busch InBev has made no secret of wanting to shed some of its assets since its $52 billion deal last year, when Belgium-based InBev purchased Anheuser-Busch, which makes Budweiser and Beck's beers. The deal made the combined company the world's largest brewer.

InBev said then that it would fund the purchase in part by selling $7 billion in non-core assets. It said it would not sell any of Anheuser-Busch's breweries, including the one in Williamsburg.

CEO Carlos Brito said last week that the company was in no rush to sell assets but would not comment on the timing or potential targets.

Blackstone already owns several entertainment businesses, including Universal Studios Orlando and Madame Tussauds wax museums.

Last year, Blackstone, with NBC Universal and Bain Capital, purchased The Weather Channel Cos. from Landmark Communications Inc. of Norfolk. Landmark, which has since been renamed Landmark Media Enterprises LLC, owns The Virginian-Pilot. People familiar with the Weather Channel transaction said it totaled about $3.5 billion.

Anheuser-Busch InBev, according to its Web site, owns 10 amusement parks.

Pilot writer Philip Walzer contributed to this report.