The two private equity houses, Blackstone and CVC, that have sold out of Merlin Entertainments have timed their exits to perfection. The shares were at a new high of 426½p on Monday night, when reports of the placing of about 15 per cent of the company went around the market. They lost only 10¼p to 416¼p when news of the sale was confirmed.
It should have come as no surprise. CVC and Blackstone most recently lightened their holdings in October, while the price they have gained, on the back of better-than-expected figures from Merlin last week, was attractive enough, given the 315p float price in November 2013.
To take a positive view, that holding had been an overhang on the market since the float, one