SeaWorld plans $510M splash

Private equity-owned SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. on Tuesday set the price range of its initial public offering at $24 to $27 per share, valuing the aquatic park operator at upward of $2.5 billion.

The Orlando, Fla.-based company is seeking to sell 20 million shares in the offering, meaning it could raise up to $510 million, plus an underwriter option of up to $76.5 million. SeaWorld plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SEAS.

Blackstone Group LP, SeaWorld's owner, is selling 10 million shares and could raise $255 million, with the rest to be sold by the company and used to pay down debt. Blackstone bought SeaWorld, which was then known as Busch Entertainment Corp., from beer giant Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV in 2009 for $2.4 billion.

The offering, if successful, would bring Blackstone closer to recouping its entire $975 million equity investment in the original buyout. The firm has taken $600 million in dividends out of SeaWorld, and post-offering would still own at least 70.5% of the company.

Goldman, Sachs & Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays plc, Wells Fargo Securities LLC, Blackstone Capital Markets, Lazard Capital Markets, Macquarie Capital, KeyBanc Capital Markets, Nomura Securities International Inc., Drexel Hamilton LLC and Ramirez & Co. are underwriters for the offering.

Igor Fert of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is serving as counsel to the company and a Latham & Watkins LLP team including Marc D. Jaffe, Cathy A. Birkeland and Michael A. Pucker is acting as underwriter counsel.

SeaWorld owns 11 theme parks in California, Florida, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia operating under its namesake brand as well as Aquatica, Busch Gardens and Sesame Place.

The company, which cares for more than 67,000 marine and terrestrial animals in its parks, said it generated $77.4 million in net income on sales of $1.42 billion in 2012 while catering to 24 million guests.