Great American Family Parks Closes on Acquisition of First Major Theme Park - Wild Animal Park
16 June 2005 - 11:01PM
PR Newswire (US)
Great American Family Parks Closes on Acquisition of First Major
Theme Park - Wild Animal Park - Adds $1.9 Million to Annual
Revenues With Strong Profits - BOISE, Idaho, June 16
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Great American Family Parks, Inc.
(OTC:GFAM) is pleased to announce the Company has acquired the
assets of Ron Snider & Associates, Inc., d.b.a. Pine Mountain
Wild Animal Park, and other assets to create Wild Animal Safari,
Inc., marking the Company's first major theme park acquisition.
Management expects the acquisition to be immediately accretive to
earnings. Pine Mountain Wild Animal Park reported annual revenues
of $1,870,825 and earnings of $754,020 for the year ended December
31, 2004. The entire transaction was covered by a consolidated
purchase price of $4.75 million. Dr. Larry Eastland, President of
Great American Family Parks, stated, "We are tremendously excited
to close our first park acquisition. GFAM acquired this park
because it meets our strict criteria of selecting small to medium-
sized parks that bring experienced management, solid revenues and
strong profits to our Company. With nearly $2 million in annual
revenues, EBITDA of $900,000 and bottom-line profits, the Wild
Animal Park has displayed an excellent growth pattern over its 14th
year of operations." Jim Meikle, the new President of Wild Animal
Safari, Inc., stated, "Wild Animal Safari is one of the few animal
parks still in existence in the U.S. that offers families unique,
interactive experiences with exotic animals in their natural
environment. We are proud to now be a part of Great American Family
Parks. We are open for business throughout the year and have
historically been profitable each and every month of the year. Wild
Animal Safari will give GFAM access to a very large market area,
where we can now leverage significant opportunities for expansion
to strengthen our thriving operations." Dr. Eastland concluded,
"GFAM is envisioned as a family-centric company with positive
values and unique entertainment offerings. This acquisition
represents a significant step in fulfilling that vision. Our
management team has a high level experience and enthusiasm to
create a park environment that will continue to attract an
increasing number of visitors, while expanding profitability."
About Wild Animal Safari Driven by their vision and love of
animals, Ron Snider and his wife, Vivian, founded Pine Mountain
Wild Animal Park over 14 years ago. The 200-acre park, located
within the 500-acre parcel purchased by GFAM, contains more than
1,500 animals, providing one of world's most unique educational and
entertaining experiences for its visitors. The park's jungle of
spellbinding animals come from around the globe, including Africa,
India, Australia, Europe, South America and the North Pole as well
as from North America. Unlike a zoo, where animals are confined in
small, man-made quarters, most of the animals at the park roam
freely throughout its country-side, socializing, grazing and
watering as they would in their original environments. Wild Animal
Safari is located within an easily accessible one-hour drive time
from Atlanta and Macon, Georgia, as well as Montgomery and
Birmingham, Alabama. For more information, visit
http://animalsafari.com/. About Great American Family Parks Great
American Family Parks is focused on buying and managing profitable
regional theme parks and themed amusement attractions in the United
States. By building a family of parks each with up to 1 million
annual attendees, GFAM is in the process of developing a series of
compatible, yet distinct entertainment and amusement products,
including themed amusement parks, associated products, food and
beverage, and multimedia offerings. Regional theme parks are a
relatively recession-proof growth market. The market for U.S. theme
and amusement parks is expected to grow at a compound annual growth
rate (CAGR) of 3.4% to $11.7 billion by 2007. Nationwide, regional
park attendance is projected to increase at a CAGR of 1.8%, to
bring collective attendance to 263.8 million by 2007. Overall
revenues for America's regional theme parks is expected to total
$8.31 billion within five years. For more information, visit
http://www.weloveparks.com/. Investors should visit
http://www.otcfn.com/gfam. For more information, please contact
Rick McCaffrey, Investor Relations, OTC Financial Network,
781-444-6100 x625, . Also visit http://www.otcfn.com/gfam. Safe
Harbor Statement Under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995: The statements in the press release that relate to the
company's expectations with regard to the future impact on the
company's results from new products in development are
forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The results anticipated
by any or all of these forward-looking statements may not occur.
DATASOURCE: Great American Family Parks, Inc. CONTACT: Rick
McCaffrey, Investor Relations, OTC Financial Network,
+1-781-444-6100 ext. 625, , for Great American Family Parks, Inc.
Web site: http://animalsafari.com/ Web site:
http://www.weloveparks.com/ Web site: http://www.otcfn.com/gfam
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