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EFA Partners Arranges Sale of Daytona Lagoon for United Parks
January 20, 2022
New York, NY (January 20, 2022) – EFA Partners, a financial advisory firm that provides investment banking and strategic consulting services for companies in the entertainment sector, today announced that it was the exclusive sell-side advisor for United Parks and arranged the sale of Daytona Lagoon, a multi-attraction water park and family entertainment center located in Daytona Beach, Florida. The park was acquired by BWL Acquisitions.
The park is adjacent to the main boulevard that runs along the beach in Daytona. Its outdoor attractions include many water park slides, a wave pool, children's play area, go-karts, mini-golf, a lazy river, and others. In addition, the indoor area features many arcade games, laser tag, climbing wall, ropes course, and other attractions.
“It was a pleasure working with United Parks senior management,” said Ralph Willis, Managing Partner and founding principal of EFA Partners. “They have continued to develop and add attractions to Daytona Lagoon since they acquired it in 2015. The park bounced back extremely well in 2021 with revenue well in excess of pre-pandemic levels."
EFA’s principals have over 70 years of collective experience in providing financing solutions for entertainment and media companies. This experience has led EFA to having deep relationships with the senior executive teams at numerous entertainment companies and private equity firms. The team prides itself on handling its clients’ financing processes from start to finish. For United Parks, EFA prepared marketing materials to highlight Daytona Lagoon and the Daytona Beach market, approached a targeted list of prospective acquirers, introduced many groups that were previously unknown to the United Parks team, created data rooms for the due diligence process, and participated in all phases of negotiations through to close.
“It has been a pleasure working with Ralph and the EFA team through this process,” said Douglas Anderson of United Parks. “We started working with them as the pandemic commenced and they stuck with us during that time which ultimately led to a successful sale. The BWL team has a depth of experience in the water park and entertainment sectors and is already familiar with the Daytona Beach market. We are confident they will be a great addition to the Volusia County community.”
About EFA Partners
EFA Partners is a boutique financial advisory firm with offices in New York and Atlanta. It provides investment banking services focused on arranging growth capital, mergers and acquisitions, and financial consulting services. Its targeted sectors include family entertainment centers, theme parks, water parks, movie theaters, casinos, film and media service companies, communications service companies, concert venues, recorded music and music publishing, hospitality, observation wheels, sports, and others. Since its inception in 2009, EFA has been retained by over 170 clients, has arranged over $1.5 billion of capital and advised on over $3 billion of additional capital.
