Dreamworld owner Ardent Leisure jumps on sale of U.S. unit

Coast Entertainment Holdings

07/04/2022 01:46

** Shares of theme park operator Ardent Leisure Group
 ALG.AX  jump as much as 9.7% to A$1.42, their best session
since Feb. 25, if gains hold
    ** ALG said late on Wednesday it is selling Main Event, its
majority-owned U.S. entertainment business, to Dave & Buster's
Entertainment  PLAY.O  for $835 million  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2W4191 
    ** Ardent to get $487 million from the sale, out of which it
expects to distribute A$430 million ($322.84 million), around
A$0.90 per share, to shareholders upon deal completion 
    ** Stock hits highest since March 10
    ** Trading volumes are at over thrice their 30-day average,
with 4.6 mln shares traded so far 
    ** ALG is down 4.1% YTD, as of last close 
    
($1 = 1.3319 Australian dollars)

 (Reporting by Harshita Swaminathan)
 ((Harshita.Swaminathan@thomsonreuters.com))