West Midland Safari Park is bought by French leisure group
The West Midland Safari Park at Bewdley has been bought for an undisclosed sum by a major French leisure parks group.
It has been bought by French leisure parks group Groupe Looping, which has 14 other attractions across Europe including 59-acre Pleasurewood Hills at Lowestoft, run by Looping Parks UK.
The former directors from former owners Safariworld Holidays left on December 20 when new director Laurent Bruloy, chief executive of Looping took over.
Safari park public relations officer Bethany Davis said: "We can confirm that The Looping Group has completed the acquisition of West Midland Safari Park. Further information about this exciting development will be available later this year."
Mr Bruloy said: “We are very pleased to welcome a great management team and staff who will be key to developing the park into an even more exciting family destination, with our support and new feature investments.
"We want to keep the strong local anchorage of West Midlands Safari Park with its local communities and will continue the important role of WMSP towards animal conservation in and ex situ.”
The Worcestershire safari park at Spring Grove was opened in 1973 by film star Sophia Loren and features four miles of drive-through safari, the largest animatronic dinosaur exhibit in the UK and a theme park.
It is home to around 140 species including lions, elephants, giraffes, rhino, bears and baboons.
In 2015, the park opened Land of the Living Dinosaurs, a £2.5m project and new £1m exhibit Ice Age last year.
It attracted around 700,000 visitors last year.
Looping, which has its headquarters in Saint-Malo, owns aquariums, animal parks, amusement parks and water parks in seven European countries, attracting 3.5 million visitors a year. With the acquisition of WMSP, Looping will count around 4.3 million visitors per annum for a turnover in excess of 100 million euros.
It was created in 2011 with the takeover of seven parks belonging to the Compagnie des Alpes - the Grand Aquarium in Saint-Malo, Bagatelle, the Grand Aquarium of the Val de Loire, Mini-Châteaux, Pleasurewood Hills, Avonturenpark Hellendoorn and Aquaparc. The Group continued its external expansion by acquiring Cobac Parc in 2012, Isla Magica in 2013, followed by Planète Sauvage, Mer de Sable in 2015 and Fort Fun, Zoo de la Flèche and Amarante Water Park in 2017.
Looping aims to become the European leader in the regional leisure park market.
The safari park, which is currently open weekends only until February 10, is holding a recruitment day on Sunday, January 20.
