Lego owner, investors make offer for Merlin Entertainment

The company behind the Lego brand is reportedly in the market to buy Merlin Entertainment and has collaborated with investors to make an offer. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)

The company behind the Lego brand is reportedly in the market to buy Merlin Entertainment and has collaborated with investors to make an offer.

The proposal to purchase the British company was made by Kirkbi Invest – which owns Lego – as well as private equity firm Blackstone and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), The Associated Press reported Friday.

The offer is for 60 cents per share, valuing the company at approximately $6 billion, according to the outlet.

Merlin runs eight Legoland parks and more than a dozen Legoland Discovery Centers, in addition to other sites like Madame Tussauds museums around the globe. Lego sold the Legoland parks to Merlin in 2005.

Kirkbi shared details of the offer in a news release, saying that it would be made to Merlin through a new company “with each of KIRKBI and the Blackstone/CPPIB group owning 50 per cent upon completion.”

Kirkbi already owns a stake of nearly 30 percent.

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Merlin announced that it had accepted the deal, saying in a news release that it and Berkeley Bidco Limited – which is “owned by joint offerors” Kirkbi, Blackstone and CPPIB – “have reached agreement on the terms of a recommended cash offer to be made by Bidco.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.