A cost overrun on the "pre-opening" of the IMG Worlds of Adventure theme park in Dubai is blamed by the owners on the necessity to renegotiate its financing.
The owners, Ilyas and Mustafa Galadari Group (IMG) deny that it is a shortfall on visitors that has created the situation, but DXB Entertainments received only 1.5 million visitors in its Dubai Parks and Resorts theme parks in the first nine months of 2017, well behind in the bid to hit the projected 6.7 million for the whole year.
IMG is set to build another theme park, an indoor venue named Worlds of Legends with eight property partnerships with names such as Nickelodeon, Mattel and Pokemon.
The US$326.7m syndicated loan that paid for the Worlds of Adventure parks is now being renegotiated with banks. It is believed that the restructuring will involve more cash and an extension to the current loan’s maturity.
