Investors wanted for a real rollercoaster ride

Photo / Amos Chapple

New Zealand Experience, operator of the Rainbow's End theme park, is for sale after a 74.86 per cent shareholder signalled a desire to exit.

The estate of George Ryerson Gardiner, which holds 27.7 million shares, yesterday told NZ Experience that it wants a process begun to seek expressions of interest for these shares.

The trustees asked the company's directors to assist and the directors agreed, while continuing to act in the interests of all shareholders.

It is likely that expressions of interest will be sought for all of the company's shares on issue.

The process is not expected to be immediate and directors are seeking external advice.

The company reported a net profit of $572,000 for the six months to December 31, 2009, marginally down on the same period in the year before.

Last year NZ Experience spent $2.5 million on its first new ride in five years, the Invader, in a bid to breathe new life into the park after visitor numbers were hit hard by the recession.

The theme park had hoped to bring in the new ride earlier but had to wait to negotiate a new lease agreement with the Manukau City Council.

A 24-year lease deal was agreed to in January in exchange for the park surrendering 0.4ha of its 9.3ha to allow the adjacent law courts to expand.

Part of the new lease conditions also mean it must reinvest $3 million every three years until June 2027.

NZ Experience closed steady on the NZX yesterday at 32c.

- NZPA