Is Universal Looking To Purchase Busch Entertainment?

[GAcoaster]

From the Orlando Sentinel:

 

Will Universal, SeaWorld combine forces?

 

Has the parent company of Universal Orlando sniffed around the parent company of SeaWorld Orlando?

 

General Electric Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Immelt won't say outright, but he sure makes it sound like his company has at least kicked the tires at Busch Entertainment Corp., which has been rumored to be for sale in the months since Belgian beer giant InBev acquired Anheuser Busch late last year. (Universal is co-owned by GE's NBC Universal unit and the Blackstone Group.)

 

"I think any time there's a change in the industry, people in the industry are going to take a look at it," Immelt told the Orlando Sentinel shortly before GE's annual shareholder meeting began last week in the Orange County Convention Center. "My understanding is that's [a Busch Entertainment sale] been slowed down a little bit, so I can't really speak to it. But look, we're in the business, and we're always looking for opportunities to make the business better."

 

So you have looked at Busch?

 

Immelt responded: "You just never can comment on stuff like that. But we're an 'industrial participant,' let's say. And so I think we look at these things with interest."

 

Manta poised to roll

Speaking of SeaWorld, the resort says its the much-anticipated Manta roller coaster is ahead of schedule — so much so that it might start letting guests ride it in about a week.

 

SeaWorld spokesman Nick Gollattscheck said water has already been pumped into the aquariums around the attraction, and the testing and safety checks of the inverted-flying coaster are complete. The park is now populating the aquariums with rays. It has been allowing employees to ride Manta for the past couple of weeks.

 

Letting guests aboard at the beginning of May would allow for a roughly three-week "soft opening" of the ride before Manta's formal grand opening on May 22.