Leading amusement park operator Wonderla Holidays is planning to invest Rs.300 crore in Tamil Nadu to set up its largest amusement park in South India.
The group, which operates amusement park under the brand Wonderla, is looking at a land parcel of 50-55 acre on GST-OMR region in Chennai.
The company is expecting to close the land deal by the end of this fiscal and project will kick-start after April 2016. “In South India, Tamil Nadu is a huge market. For our growth we have to present in Tamil Nadu as early as possible. We are negotiating for a land parcel of 50-55 acres. Once the land is acquired we will start operations by April 2018,” said Arun K. Chittilappilly, Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays. The company also said it would raise a debt of Rs.120 crore for the proposed Chennai project while remaining would be funded through internal accruals.
The company, started as part of V-Guard Group of companies, commissioned its first park in 2000 at Kochi.
Wonderla went public in 2014 through an initial public offering. Presently, it operates two amusement parks, one in Kochi and the other near Bengaluru.
The third project of the company in Hyderabad is expected to be commissioned in April next year. It will contribute around Rs.65 crore to the company’s topline in FY17. The company is investing around Rs.250 crore for this facility. “The facility will be commissioned in April next year. This will be the first large project in newly formed Telengana,” added Mr. Chittilappilly.
Apart from amusement park, Wonderla also operates a resort in Bengaluru. It is planning to add a resort and a water park to the Kochi facility by the end of this year.
“We have land bank in Kochi and Bengaluru for further development. But Chennai will be the largest amusement park. We plan to open resorts in each of our facility in the long term,” he added.
The group, which saw around 22 lakh visitors last year, is expecting a revenue growth of 15-20 per cent growth this year.
For the first quarter ended June 30, 2015, Wonderla reported a net of Rs.28.04 crore and total income of Rs.67.21.
