The Firm represented SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc. ("SeaWorld Entertainment"), a portfolio company of The Blackstone Group L.P., and certain selling stockholders affiliated with The Blackstone Group L.P. (the “Selling Stockholders”), in connection with an initial public offering of common stock. SeaWorld Entertainment is a leading theme park and entertainment company that owns or licenses a portfolio of globally recognized brands including SeaWorld, Shamu and Busch Gardens. SeaWorld Entertainment has a portfolio of 11 destination and regional theme parks across the United States, which showcases its one-of-a-kind collection of approximately 67,000 marine and terrestrial animals.
SeaWorld Entertainment sold 10,000,000 shares of common stock in the offering and the Selling Stockholders sold 19,900,000 shares of common stock in the offering, including 3,900,000 shares that were sold by the Selling Stockholders pursuant to the full exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option. The shares of SeaWorld Entertainment are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “SEAS.”
The offering raised approximately $807 million in gross proceeds to SeaWorld Entertainment and the Selling Stockholders. SeaWorld Entertainment did not receive any of the proceeds from the sale of the shares sold by the Selling stockholders. SeaWorld Entertainment used the net proceeds from the offering to repay a portion of its existing indebtedness and for other general corporate purposes.
Goldman, Sachs & Co. and J.P. Morgan acted as joint bookrunning managers and as representatives of the underwriters in the offering. Citigroup, BofA Merrill Lynch, Barclays and Wells Fargo Securities were also bookrunners in the offering. Blackstone Capital Markets, Lazard Capital Markets, Macquarie Capital, KeyBanc Capital Markets, Nomura, Drexel Hamilton, LLC and Ramirez & Co. Inc. acted as co-managers in the offering.
The Simpson Thacher team included Lauren Yoon, David Azarkh, Joe Ronca, Randy Benjenk and Taissa Macaferri Licatti (Capital Markets); Wilson Neely, Ravi Agarwal, Ravi Purushotham and Jay Baviskar (M&A); Alden Millard, Brian Gluck and Tyler Flood (Credit); Greg Grogan, David Rubinsky, Doug Tang and Brittany McCants (Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits); A.J. Kess, Frank Marinelli, Jennifer Nadborny, Dov Gottlieb and Frank Kwok (Public Company Advisory Practice); Gary Mandel and Jonathan Talansky (Tax); Michael Wolitzer, Olga Gutman, Jonathan Karen and Carolyn Houston (Funds); Genevieve Dorment and Mindy Lok (Intellectual Property); Krista McManus (Real Estate); Adeeb Fadil (Environmental) and Andrew Pagliughi (FINRA).