La Ronde to Become Six Flags Amusement Park

On May 2, 2001, Six Flags, Inc., a publicly owned corporation whose stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange, completed the acquisition of the La Ronde amusement park in Montreal from the City of Montreal and Société du parc des Îles.

Six Flags plans to transform La Ronde into a world-class theme park attraction similar to its popular Six Flags megaparks around the world. La Ronde was originally built and commenced operations in conjunction with the 1967 World’s Fair in Montreal.

Six Flags is the largest owner and operator of regional theme park attractions in the world. The acquisition of La Ronde brings Six Flags’ total in number of parks in North America, Europe and Latin America to 39; the parks attract approximately 50 million visitors annually.
The transaction involved the acquisition of the existing rides and related assets, as well as the leasing of the property for 64 years. Six Flags has furthermore committed to invest at least $90 million over the next five years.

Six Flags was led by a team from Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP in Montreal comprising Peter Mendell (commercial), Michel Pelletier (real estate) and Mario Cavalancia, CA (tax) with support from Louise Patry (labour), Marie-Andrée Latreille (corporate) and Pascal de Guise (commercial).

The City of Montreal was represented by a team from Borden Ladner Gervais LLP comprising Pierre Trudeau (real estate) and André Dufour (commercial) with support from Éric Beaulieu (labour), Tommaso Nanci (real estate), Sylvie Bouvette (real estate) and Patricia Gagnon (commercial), while Louis Coallier from Pouliot Mercure acted for the Société du parc des Îles.