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EFA Partners Arranges Construction Financing for Owynn’s World of Adventure

May 17, 2022

New York, NY (May 17, 2022) – EFA Partners, a financial advisory firm that provides investment banking and strategic consulting services for companies in the entertainment and media sectors, today announced that it arranged financing for Owynn’s World of Adventure, a new multi-attraction indoor entertainment venue, being built in Litchfield Park, Arizona; a growing city located about 20 miles west of Phoenix. Construction has already commenced with an opening scheduled for late this summer.

Owynn’s World of Adventure is led by Tyrone Ward who has been developing the project for over three years. The venue concept was inspired by his daughter, Owynn. It will be targeted to families with younger children and will feature highly themed play areas with characters designed and developed by Tyrone and his team. It will have multiple attractions including an indoor splash pad for water activities, Omni Arena, a ropes course, two-story laser tag, mini-bowling, arcade games, and many others. Food and beverage options will be available throughout the venue.

“It has been such a pleasure working with Tyrone for over two years,” said Ralph Willis, Managing Partner and founding principal of EFA Partners. “He persevered through the pandemic and continued to pursue his dream of opening Owynn’s World of Adventure. Its characters and themed areas will provide patrons with a unique entertainment experience that will be an excellent addition to the growing Litchfield Park market."

EFA’s principals have over 70 years of collective experience in providing financing solutions for entertainment and media companies. They have deep relationships with banks, equipment lessors, construction lenders, specialty finance groups, REITs, and private equity groups. The team prides itself on handling its clients’ financing processes from start to finish. For Owynn’s World of Adventure, EFA approached a targeted list of prospective financiers, introduced lenders that were previously unknown to Tyrone and his team, prepared presentation materials, and participated in all phases of negotiations with lenders all the way through to closing.

“EFA started working with us back in 2019 but then our project needed to slow down for several months as the pandemic continued,” said Tyrone Ward, the primary principal of Owynn’s World of Adventure. “They stuck with us during that difficult period and we finally got to the finish line. Their experience working with lenders in the FEC sector not only resulted in a successfully closed financing but they were instrumental in negotiating with the lender to reduce the amount of equity we needed to contribute.”

About EFA Partners

EFA Partners is a boutique financial advisory firm with offices in New York and Atlanta focused on the entertainment, media, and technology sectors. It provides investment banking services focused on arranging growth capital, mergers and acquisitions, and financial consulting services. In entertainment, its targeted sectors include family entertainment centers, movie theaters, theme parks, water parks, casinos, concert venues, hospitality, observation wheels, sports, and others. In media and technology, it focuses on companies in film and media services, communications services, SaaS, recorded music, music publishing, and others. Since its inception in 2009, EFA has been retained by over 175 clients, have arranged over $1.5 billion of capital and have advised on over $3 billion of additional capital. 

Leading provider of digital media services for film and television

Background: A seasoned management team who had previously worked with EFA while at their previous companies, formed a new film and television digital media services company and approached EFA to arrange financing for potential acquisition targets.

EFA Process: The company retained EFA to arrange acquisition financing.  EFA ran the process including creating presentation materials and then approaching several banks and specialty lenders.

Result: Three closings including two financings to support two acquisitions and financing to provide working capital.

start quoteWe selected EFA as our advisor due to their financial experience specific to the film and television services sector. The past year has been tremendous for us as we significantly grew our business with EFA arranging financing that allowed us to execute on our growth plans very quickly. end quote

John Suh
Co-Founder and Co-President of  Pixelogic

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                                                      Top ten film exhibitor in the U.S. based on screen count with 16 theaters across the Midwest

Background: Approached EFA to arrange financing, to refinance existing debt, and for growth of the business. Also engaged EFA to arrange a sale of the business.

EFA Process: EFA ran the process for all three assignments including preparing presentation materials and creating data rooms to manage the processes. For the debt process, approached several banks, specialty lenders, and REITs. For the sale process, approached strategic film exhibitors, private equity groups, and family offices.

Result: Three closings including a debt facility to refinance all existing senior debt, another debt facility to refinance existing debt as well as provide additional funds to acquire real estate at certain theaters, and then arranged the sale of operations to Kinepolis, a Belgium-based film exhibitor expanding its U.S. platform. 

start quoteThe EFA team has been our trusted financial advisor for the past several years. They have assisted us for a variety of assignments over the years including the refinancing of our debt, reviewing acquisition opportunities, and now the sale of our operations which, when closed, will provide an excellent outcome for our investors.end quote

Paul Glantz
Chairman of Emagine

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2nd largest U.S. operator of karting-based entertainment venues with 11 venues in the East and Midwest

Background: Approached EFA to arrange financing to refinance existing debt and for growth of the business. Also engaged EFA to arrange a sale of the business.

EFA Process: EFA ran the process for both assignments which included preparing presentation materials and creating data rooms to manage the processes. For the debt process, EFA approached several banks, specialty lenders, equipment financiers, and REITs. For the sale process, EFA approached strategic entertainment companies, private equity groups, and family offices.

Result: Three closings including a debt facility to refinance all existing senior debt and to provide growth capital which the company utilized to renovate and expand certain sites. Then arranged the sale of operations to K1 Speed, the largest U.S. operator of karting-based entertainment venues. K1 subsequently also acquired the real estate at one venue.

start quoteIt has been a pleasure working with Ralph Willis and the EFA team for the past several years. EFA was previously our advisor and successfully arranged our senior debt. Their understanding of the leisure sector and their industry relationships made them the logical choice to lead our sale effort which culminated in closing the sale to K1. end quote

Michael Greene
CFO and founding principal of Autobahn

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Television and motion picture post-production and digital content management services

Background: Company approached EFA seeking refinancing of its debt subsequent to other advisors attempting to do so with a combination of senior debt and equity.

EFA Process: After reviewing its capital structure EFA recommended a debt structure to fully refinance the company's debt.

Result: Closed senior debt facility that refinanced the company's existing debt, which was much more cost-effective than equity.

start quoteThe EFA team proposed a creative strategy to recapitalize Modern VideoFilm that met our needs in a way that was unique and different from what other financial advisory firms proposed to us. We appreciated their understanding of the entertainment industry and EFA's extensive financial relationships and we look forward to continuing our relationship. end quote

Moshe Barkat,
CEO and President of Modern VideoFilm

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                                                                              Operator of dine-in cinemas across the U.S.

Background: EFA has been engaged by Alamo corporate and several franchisees over several years for various assignments. These included  arranging construction financing for new venues and running the sale process for various theaters.

EFA Process: EFA ran the process for several assignments which included preparing presentation materials and creating data rooms to manage the processes. For the debt process, EFA approached several banks, specialty lenders, and equipment financiers. For the sale process, EFA approached strategic entertainment companies and private equity groups.

Result: Arranged construction and equipment financing for theaters in Texas, Colorado, and New York. In addition, served as sell-side advisor for two different franchisees and arranged the sale of seven theaters to two different film exhibitors.

start quoteEFA Partners and our team worked uniformly every step of the way to arrange a comprehensive financing solution that delivers greater financial flexibility to our two existing venues while also providing the necessary capital to build our newest Denver location. Brandt Gully, Ralph Willis and the EFA team have a deep understanding of the film exhibition industry and have proven to be reliable long-term partners as we continue pursuing our goals for sustained long-term growth.end quote

Dave Kennedy
Partner at Alamo Drafthouse

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 Waterpark in Houston owned by WP Ventures 

 

Background: Approached EFA to arrange financing to refinance existing debt and to finance a new attracion at the venue.

EFA Process: EFA ran the process which included preparing presentation materials and creating data rooms to manage the process. EFA approached several banks, specialty lenders, and REITs. 

Result: Arranged the financing with a bank at a very attractive rate that provided funding to refinance all exisiting senior debt and to provide funds for a new children's waterpark area.

start quoteIt was great working with Ralph Willis and the EFA team as they led our process to arrange financing. Their many years of experience in the leisure sector, plus their extensive relationships with financiers, allowed them to convey the highlights of our park and garnered interest from several financial groups. That provided for a competitive process to negotiate favorable financing terms to meet our financing needs. end quote

Terry Hlavinka
Partner at WP Ventures

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Television industry management group formed to manage and operate US TV stations

Background: Huntington approached EFA seeking capital for potential television station acquisitions.

EFA Process: EFA understood that private equity firms and lenders are seeking experienced management teams to back for acquisition opportunities in the television sector.

Result: EFA has introduced the company to several private equity firms as well as senior lenders, resulting in bids for groups of television stations and the company continues to seek other opportunities, with EFA’s assistance.

start quoteWe are acutely aware of the trends that are transforming the local broadcast TV business and have recently begun to explore opportunities to acquire stations. We are very excited about the prospects for the industry and the opportunities to capitalize upon. We are also pleased to have EFA Partners as our financial advisor as their many years of media industry experience and extensive financial relationships will help us accomplish our goal of building a best-in-class station group.

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David Tynan,
CEO of Huntington Broadcast Management Group

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