ARCHIVED - Jesús Samper says he has no investors for Paramount.

In an exclusive interview with the spanish press he says he has no confirmed investment for the Paramount Park project.

Its been an interesting day for the Paramount Murcia Theme Park project today, the morning beginning with a headline in La Verdad, which said "Samper admits that he still doesnt have any investors for Paramount."

The paper went on to say that the explanation offered by the head of Premursa to justify the fact that he had still not reached accords with potential investors was that the image and brand of Spain was making it more difficult to obtain financing, due to the current economic downturn, an explanation which is fully understandable given the current financial difficulties and lack of market confidence assailing Spain.

Samper said that the project was not in danger due to lack of money, that he was optimistic and would be continuing with the project as planned. He mentioned that he had asked the Regional Government to give a loan guarantee for between 20 and 25 million euros, which would help him to cover costs and initiate the construction whilst he continued the search for investment. Even if the government was unwilling to guarantee the loan, he still intended to go ahead with the construction and start work in the autumn.

This, then, is the mysterious plan B which was referred to by the Consejero for Culture and Tourism, Pedro Cruz, during the questions and answer session at the 150th anniversary celebrations of the Archena Balneario last week.

Jesús Samper admitted that he was feeling a little frustrated by the lack of support for the project and stressed that up until now hes not received any money from the regional government and that in fact hes not asking them to directly give him money only guarantee that they will cover the loan while he continues to seek financial support.

He said that a reply would be forthcoming within a couple of weeks. It had been made clear to him that the regional government was not in a position to give loans or guarantees, due to its own financial limitations, but were open to the possibility of studying what he called "a small bit of support."

He said that he was not concerned about laying the first stone without having any investors, stating to La Verdad in an exclusive interview, that this "is not a factory and we do not have to sell a defined product. This is a project with its views set on the year 2015."

He also denied that two years have passed without him being able to achieve any economic support saying that the investors with whom he is currently negotiating had been in the frame for more than six months and that if there had been any agreement he would have said so, but what we did have is financial agreements with collaborators who were keen to build and develop the park.

He explained that once the works went out to tender following completion of the necessary bureaucratic processes within the town Hall of Alhama de Murcia, that the construction companies involved would be bringing the necessary financing. Samper said that he is continuing to have meetings with potential investors including a meeting in New York soon.

According to Samper, Premursa needs €40 million to initiate construction on the Theme park element, money which would be recovered post construction through the sale of land plots for the additional commercial elements to be incorporated into the overall structure of the park.

The paper also raised the question of whether the President of the Region of Murcia, Ramón Luis Valcárcel, would be able to attend the laying of the first stone on Thursday as his agenda had not yet been confirmed due to his due to his presence in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday.


Later in the day, the Consejero for public works , Antonio Sevilla, confirmed that his department had been in contact with Sr Samper and that he had been asked to guarantee a loan as communicated in the paper. He stated that the regional government would have to study the conditions under which the loan was being requested, look at the quantities and look at the viability of the whole project before any decision could be made.
He emphasised that the request was nothing out of the ordinary as businesses who invest in projects of this nature "ask for the support of the administrations so that these investments can be more attractive for potential investors," and that requests of this nature were common practise.



Meanwhile, in Alhama de Murcia, the IU and Greens Party, had, predictably turned down an invitation to attend the laying of the first stone and voted against the motion in an extraordinary pleno meeting to approve changes to the urban convenio. These changes related to the plan which took into account the changes made to the planning permission requested when Premursa were unable to complete on the purchase of the plot of land belonging to Intersa, due to problems with its insolvency paperwork.

"The most important stone is the last stone and not the first stone," said the ever practical head of urbanism in Alana Council, whilst the opposition spokesman confined his own comments to saying that, "theyre selling the skin before theyve hunted the bear, " in reference to the media hype which currently surrounds the subject of job applications for those interested in working in the Park. Originally plans had been announced by regional representatives to open an office before the summer in order to process job applications, but this,  in his opinion,  should be carried out once the bureaucratic processes of approving the planning for the Park had been completed and once it was clear exactly how many metres the park would comprise and who the investment partners were.

And as is only to be expected, politicians from other political parties were keen to make comment on the days events, expressing their scepticism towards the whole project, saying that they had been deeply concerned since the decision was announced that the park would be reduced in size by a third and that the elements which would be reduced included the commercial elements of the project.

Surfing forums has also been an interesting experience as quite strong opinions are being expressed on some as to the concept of guaranteeing money to another private project with which the region has always stated it has no connection, when functionaries are losing their jobs, teachers, hospitals and public services are undergoing severe cuts, and the regions own financial health is in urgent need of a major blood transfusion following its downgrading to "junk" status by a ratings agency a couple of weeks ago.

With the laying of the first stone still scheduled to go ahead on Thursday, its very surprising to see La Verdad running a piece like this, given the fact that it has been highly supportive of the project from the start and indeed has been the source of much of the "exclusives and insider leaks" which made coverage of the subject such an interesting journey.

Of course, as is normal in these situations its difficult to know who is playing who and why a bombshell like this has been dropped just 3 days before the laying of the first stone, when the direct question of "are there are investors yet" has received an affirmative answer in highly public situations such as the Regional Assembly on more than one occasion.

 The truth is, that this is a major investment into a business which, should it go ahead and achieve the required financing, generate money making opportunities for thousands of Murcian businesses, and is about business. Its deeply disappointing to read this report, as the timing does seem somewhat questionable, and creates intense speculation about the viability of the product and the project at a time when the support of the "system" would be expected.

The major problem with all of this is that the hype began too early, and in a way, should have been left firmly under wraps, instead of being used for political exploitation, but sadly, politics and business are irrevocably entwined. Now, with everything in the open, and so much at stake, its to be hoped that this adverse publoicity doesn´t damage the credibility of the whole enterprise, just before the laying of the first stone.

All quotes from Jesús Samper, source la Verdad.

Image: the flags flying ahead of Thursdays stone laying ceremony.

For the full 2 years of the Paramount Park story, Click Paramount Theme Park Murcia