On Thursday, SeaWorld Entertainment filed a Form S-1 preliminary IPO prospectus with the SEC, registering its plans to go public at a date yet to be announced. The company is currently owned by The Blackstone Group (BX).
Most details on the IPO remain to be determined, appearing as blanks in the S-1 for the time being. SeaWorld has, however, confirmed that it will be seeking to use the ticker symbol "SEAS." The proposed maximum aggregate offering price is listed as $100 million.
In addition to its eponymous waterpark, SeaWorld owns the Busch Gardens theme parks, Aquatica water parks and, also, the Sesame Place theme park and Discovery Cove marine resort. In the first nine months of 2012, the company recorded $1.16 billion in revenues, and earned $86.2 million -- four times more than it earned in all of 2011.
Goldman Sachs (GS 1.00%) and JP Morgan Chase (JPM -0.25%) will be lead underwriters on the IPO, with Citigroup (C 1.63%), Bank of America (BAC 0.79%), Barclays (BCS 1.32%) and Wells Fargo (WFC 0.47%) participating.
