Nagoya / Japan: First Legoland Park in Japan

Merlin Entertainments plc today announces it will open its first LEGOLAND Park in Japan. The new park, to be located in the city of Nagoya, will cost JPY 32 billion (231 million EUR) in total and adds to Merlin’s existing portfolio of six Legoland parks. The park will be opened under Merlin’s ‘operated and leased’ model, with the infrastructure of the park being funded by a third party. Merlin will directly invest JPY 9.2 billion (66 million EUR) in the park over the next 3 years. Nagoya is ideally located in the centre of Japan and is approximately two hours from Tokyo and one hour from Osaka, with independent market research suggesting a potential catchment area in excess of 20 million people. “Today’s announcement is another major milestone in the development of the Legoland brand. <...> The Park will make a significant contribution to the growth of the Merlin group as well as supporting our continued geographic diversification. Long term, we continue to believe that there is significant opportunity for the Legoland brand, with the potential for up to 20 parks across the world and we remain committed to our target of opening a new park every two to three years”, Nick Varney, Merlin Entertainments CEO, commented. The opening of the new Legoland Japan is scheduled for the second quarter of 2017. (eap)