Village Roadshow Limited (VRL) announces that a wholly owned subsidiary has entered into agreements with a wholly owned subsidiary of Guangzhou R&F Properties Co. Ltd. (R&F), a company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, for the establishment of Hainan R&F Ocean Paradise. This will be a destination theme park on Hainan Island, China focusing on marine animal attractions, with a similar format to VRL’s successful Sea World on Australia's Gold Coast.
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The site will also include a world class water park like VRL’s Wet 'n' Wild on the Gold Coast and Sydney Wet 'n' Wild, which is currently under construction.
The agreements utilise Village Roadshow's expertise in design, development, construction management and operations management. The first agreement covers Village Roadshow's involvement in the design and development of the project, and positions Village Roadshow as the lead consultant in a team that will draw on specialist expertise from around the world. The second agreement appoints Village Roadshow as the exclusive operator of both Hainan R&F Ocean Paradise and Hainan Wet 'n' Wild for a period of up to 20 years.
These agreements are the result of intensive work and investigations by the Village Roadshow Theme Parks group over more than two years.
VRL Executive Chairman Robert Kirby said "Our key involvement in every aspect of this project represents significant reward and recognition of our Village Roadshow Theme Parks branding and world class capabilities. We look forward to working closely with R&F, who are one of China's leading property developers, to deliver a world class destination theme park to the people of Hainan Island, its many tourists and of course all of China."
Guangzhou R&F Properties Co. Ltd. Chairman, Li Sze Lim, commented that "We have searched the world to find the best partner to work with to deliver on our commitment to establish an international standard theme park for the people of Hainan and China. We believe we have found this in Village Roadshow. Their demonstrated capabilities in theme parks, combined with their commitment to this project and to China, gives us every confidence that together we will deliver a truly wonderful theme park experience to the millions of tourists and residents of Hainan Island."
The total project cost of Hainan R&F Ocean Paradise will be around RMB 3.5 billion (approximately A$550 million) and is scheduled to open in 2015. VRL will not have any ownership interest in the Park. The financial impact on VRL during the development phase is not expected to be material. The level of management fees and performance based incentive fees once the Park is operating is anticipated to be significant.
VRL is Australia's largest theme park operator with Sea World, Warner Bros. Movie World, Wet'n'Wild Water World, Paradise Country, Australian Outback Spectacular, Village Roadshow Studios and Sea World Resort in its Gold Coast portfolio.