Investors join the queue to fund UK’s Disneyland
MAJOR City firms have pledged to bankroll a £2.6 billion theme park in Kent which is being dubbed ‘ the UK’s answer to Disneyland’.
Funding documents for the London Resort near Dartford show it has lined up investors to finance the construction of the giant attraction in two phases through a mix of investment and debt.
More than £ 75 million has already been invested by Middle Eastern businessmen led by Kuwaiti tycoon Dr Abdulla Al- Humaidi, owner of Ebbsfleet United Football Club.
The London Resort is run by chief executive PY Gerbeau, the former boss of the Millennium Dome, and chaired by Steve Norris, a former Tory MP and Transport Minister.
The developers must prove the financing is in place to win planning approval from Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick because it involves a compulsory acquisition for the 1,150-acre site on the Swanscombe Peninsula.
The City investors, who are not being named, will commit to the funding once the project is given the green light.
Big Four firm PwC drew up financial modelling for the resort and its business plan has been scrutinised by ‘several global institutions on behalf of i nvestors’, according to the documents.
They add: ‘The model demonstrates that the proposed development can deliver sufficient operating revenues to allow the required debt and equity to be secured.’
The resort is said to be aiming to open in 2024 and is expected t o be employing 17,000 workers by 2038.