Nedcor is talking to overseas and local investors about the sale of
troubled Cape Town theme park Ratanga Junction. The banking group inherited
Ratanga when it bought BoE last year. Nedcor GM Martin Slabbert declines to
comment on the sale of Ratanga except to say that the theme park is not core
to the group's banking business. The time is right for Nedcor to sell it.
Preliminary results for the year ended March show the theme park company
made a profit for the first time in its five years of existence. Sources
tell the FM that foreign investors, whom they do not name, are looking at
Ratanga. Locally, Gold Reef City is interested in buying Ratanga at the
right price, says CEO Thabo Moloko. Sources say Gold Reef City has held
talks with Nedcor but the two could not agree on price. Gold Reef City is
said to have offered R50m for Ratanga, which was built at a cost of R350m.
Whoever buys Ratanga will have difficulty in turning the project into a
money spinner. This is because Ratanga is fishing in a small market pond,
say entertainment industry experts. Ratanga has also suffered from Cape
Town's bad winter weather. The theme park now operates only during the
summer months and this has cut overheads by R19,7m/year. GM David Kliegl
says the ride park achieved 70% of the previous 12 months' turnover even
though it operated only six months last year. A project like Ratanga
Junction should not have been developed to stand alone but as part of a
larger entertainment complex, says the development director of gaming group
Tsogo Sun, Kevin Page. Tsogo Sun runs its theme parks as part of complexes
linked to casinos. Durban's Water World is linked to the Sun Coast casino
and the Bird Garden to Montecasino, north of Johannesburg. Styling theme
parks as centres combining entertainment and education is also key to the
success of the project. Moloko says Gold Reef City is part of a larger
complex including a conference centre, a hotel and a casino whose underlying
theme is the history of the SA gold mining industry. Gold Reef City's
"edutainment" theme draws school children who keep the centre running
midweek when the leisure visitor is at work, says Moloko.
Publisher: Financial Mail
Source: Sibonelo Radebe
Nedcor is talking to overseas and local investors about the sale of troubled Cape Town theme park Ratanga Junction.
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