Sanrio, the Japanese company behind the world-famous Hello Kitty cartoon franchise, has agreed to lend its brand to a US$230m outdoor theme park in China.
The Hello Kitty-themed amusement park, to be located in the city of Anji in east China’s Zhejiang province, will be jointly designed by Sanrio and US-based amusement park designer Hettema, with construction scheduled to start in the second half of this year and a full opening ceremony to take place in 2014.
Under the licensing agreement, the Chinese partner, a subsidiary of Shanghai Insight Holdings, will build and operate the park while Sanrio will provide its characters and planning.
According to reports, Sanrio also plans to build a much smaller indoor amusement park featuring the company’s famous characters in Malaysia in 2012.
