Imagicaa Theme Park'S New Owners To Focus On Expanding Company Footprint In India

The Malpani Group, which recently assumed ownership and management of the Imagicaa theme park, will first focus on restructuring the company and reviving its profitability. It will then focus on expanding the amusement park’s footprints to cover other parts of the country.

“We have been in the business, we understand the industry. So we have a lot more things to add to Imagicaa — the restructuring process, adding of new rides, adding of new attractions, so all these things will come into the picture,” Jai Malpani of the Malpani Group and the newly-appointed director of Imagicaa told CNBC-TV18. The group plans to run the company as a listed entity for now.

Imagicaa World Entertainment, earlier known as Adlabs Entertainment, was struggling under Rs 1,600 crore debt burden and rising costs were not helping matters. Then came the COVID-19 pandemic, due to which the amusement park was closed to patrons for nearly two years. All this made the company’s lenders uneasy and then led by Union Bank, they orchestrated the sale of Imagicaa.

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Done outside of the NCLT, the debt resolution plan involved assigning of their debt to Aditya Birla ARC for Rs 500 crore. Lenders were then issued equity shares by way of debt conversion to the tune of Rs 75 crore. These shares make up 11.97 percent stake in Imagicaa.

“We started this deal almost three years ago, almost pre-pandemic. We have settled the debt with 10 consortium banks and the deal is of Rs575 crore and now we have a majoring controlling stake in Imagicaa,” said Malpani.

This is the Malpani Group’s fourth amusement park in India. It already operates water parks under the ‘Wet N Joy’ brand in Lonavala and Shirdi. The Group is confident it can script a turnaround at Imagicaa as well, especially as footfall return.

First Published: Jun 30, 2022, 06:34 PM IST