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Comcast buys 49 percent of Japan theme park for $2.3B

    by Bob Fernandez
    Published 

Comcast Corp.'s Universal theme park division bought a remaining 49-percent stake in Universal Studios Japan that it didn't own for $2.3 billion. Comast now owns 100 percent of the business.

The deal pushes Comcast's NBCUniversal unit deeper into the theme park business that has boomed under the Philadelphia company's ownership since 2011.

The purchase price, with debt, values Universal Studios Japan at $7.4 billion. NBCUniversal has said it will expand in Asia with plans for a theme park in Beijing. It also licenses a park in Singapore.

Tom Williams, chairman and CEO for Universal Parks & Resorts, said the Japan park was "amazing and incredibly successful."

Comcast bought the stake from Goldman Sachs, former Universal Studios Japan CEO Glenn Gumpel, private-equity firm MBK Partners, and hedge fund Owl Creek Asset Management.

The deal is expected to close before the end of April.