Date Published: 21/12/2011

Premursa exercise option to purchase Paramount Park land.

Paramount Park and Lifestyle Center Alhama de Murcia.

Premursa exercise option to purchase Paramount Park land. It has been announced today that Premursa, the company holding the license to develop the Paramount Park and Lifestyle Center in Alhama de Murcia, has signed the paperwork to exercise its option to purchase the lands on which the proposed theme park complex will be constructed.

Completion of the deal for 1.8 million square metres at a price of 15.8 million euros ( 15, 812,851 euros to be exact) is to take place on the 6th February 2012 .

The paperwork was apparently signed on December 16th although the signing was only made public today following approval of the reclassification of the land by the Mayor of Alhama de Murcia, a vital bureaucratic stage which will give Premursa the go-ahead to start construction in the Spring of next year.( see separate article.)

The land measures 1,812,926.83 square metres, of which 774.777,83 metres are destined for the Paramount Park and 1,038.149 to the Lifestyle Center which will hold the "business end" of the development with hotels, offices, leisure and commercial enterprises.

It´s interesting to note that whilst this release undoubtedly keeps alive hopes that this project will go ahead, there is still no news reference the potential investors who will make it happen.

La Opinión made no comment at all reference the investment situation, whilst La Verdad recycled information published on two different occasions earlier in the year. One quote by the head of Premursa, Jesús Samper estimating that 40 million euros would be enough to initiate the construction is several months old.

The second comment which is that the project has made a favourable impression amongst 5 groups of potential investors from America and China was made at the time of the Hispano-Arab Investment Forum held in Torre Pacheco a few weeks ago at which the park was presented.

Since then, Premursa has been undertaking a roadshow to capture investment for the project.

The truth is, that whilst the project is undoubtedly an exciting and innovative undertaking , with a perfect mix of ingredients- location-climate-potential-dynamic project- available workforce-new International airport- accessibility for tourism-worldwide brand partner - the current International financial instability and lack of credit liquidity would naturally make the hunt for large-scale investment more difficult, so it is not surprising that no announcements have been made.

There has been speculation that various parties may be involved, but confidentiality prevents speculators from capitalising on a potentially lucrative opportunity, so until formal announcements are made reference the financing, spectators can do little other than guess.

Premursa has said in the past that it needs to "capture" 446 million euros, which will give it enough capital to consolidate the project.

A third of the money would be destined for the urbanisation and subsequent sale of plots in the Lifestyle Center complex, a second quantity would come from investors keen to back the theme park element and the rest would come via bank financing.

Samper believes that 130 million euros is all that is required from external investors.

The rest of the capital would come from businesses involved in the commercial aspect of the park, namely hotels, casinos, office and leisure businesses, although the first priority is to prepare the plots for onward sale, a large-scale "off-plan" purchase scheme.

With this strategy in mind, construction could begin without having acquired the full billion euros it has been estimated will be required to complete the park and which would be considerably more difficult to obtain in the current economic climate.

Premursa hope to open the park in 2015, complying with the licensing agreements signed with Paramount Licensing in America.

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