H.I.S. to sell Huis Ten Bosch theme park

e Huis Ten Bosch theme park in Nagasaki Prefecture is in the nal stages of being sold to a Hong Kong investment rm, according to sources.

e sale is likely to amount to several tens of billions of yen, the sources said.

Major travel agency H.I.S. Co. owns 66.7% of the stock in the park’s operating company, Huis Ten Bosch Co., and plans to sell most of it, the sources said. e o cial decision on selling the Dutch-themed resort in Sasebo is expected to be made as early as August.

e remaining Huis Ten Bosch stock is held by ve other rms, including Kyushu Electric Power Co. and Kyushu Railway Co., that also plan to sell their shares.

e theme park will continue its operations under the Hong Kong rm.

H.I.S. has been hit hard by the pandemic, logging a record consolidated net loss in its business year ending October 2021. Huis Ten Bosch, though, has been seeing an increase in the number of visitors.

Huis Ten Bosch’s consolidated nancial settlement for its rst half through March this year showed its operating net pro t back in black for the rst time in three years.

e sources believe H.I.S. made the decision to sell Huis Ten Bosch while its business performance is improving.

H.I.S. bought Huis Ten Bosch in 2010, with the other ve Kyushu-based rms also investing in the operating company.

e theme park opened in 1992, but due to low attendance, it led for bankruptcy protection under the Corporate Reorganization Law in 2003. e company was then under an investment rm connected to major nancial services rm Nomura Holdings, Inc., which paved the way for the sale to H.I.S. (July 22)

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo Visitors to the Huis Ten Bosch theme park in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, watch a parade in March.