The Entertainment and Education Group Acquires Ardent’s Bowling and Entertainment Division

MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT

The Entertainment and Education Group (“TEEG”) has today entered into a binding agreement to acquire the Bowling and Entertainment Division of Ardent Leisure (“B&E”) for $160 million. TEEG is jointly owned by funds advised by Quadrant Private Equity and the Steinberg family.

The transaction brings together the businesses of Timezone, AMF, Kingpin and Playtime to form one of the world’s largest Family Entertainment Centre groups. TEEG operates across 6 countries with over 250 locations. 

The TEEG strategy is to invest significant growth capital across Australia and Asia to capitalise on the rapid growth seen in the entertainment and early education sectors that are benefiting from the emerging middle markets and growing consumer spending habits. With world leading brands, the group will focus on the international expansion of Kingpin and Playtime across
South East Asia.

Chris Hadley, Chairman of TEEG and Quadrant said “B&E has built a market leading position in Australia and New Zealand and the combination with Timezone will position TEEG as one of the world’s largest FEC groups with leading operations in Australasia with an unmatched offering and geographic
footprint. We are genuinely excited by the significant growth opportunities and ability to invest capital here and in Asia.”

Scott Blume, Managing Director of TEEG said “The acquisition complements our existing Timezone business and gives us access to new brands and leisure experiences for our customers across Australia and New Zealand. 

The combined business will have deep industry knowledge and expertise to drive operational improvements and deliver on growth opportunities including delivering the Kingpin brand and experience into Asian markets. The FEC sector continues to experience positive tailwinds and the business continues to deliver double digit growth in revenues and EBITDA as we continue to invest to deliver on organic growth, new sites and opportunistic acquisitions”

Jonathon Pearce, Director of TEEG and Partner of Quadrant said “This acquisition is transformational for the TEEG business and adds a suite of strong brands to the portfolio and we believe the group will be able to continue driving growth and delivering high quality entertainment to our millions of customers.”

Quadrant was advised by Record Point, EY and G+T.

Media Contacts

Chris Hadley
Chairman
TEEG / Quadrant
+61 2 9221 3044

Scott Blume
Managing Director
TEEG
+65 8133 0602