Newport Beach-based Palace Entertainment Inc., operator of Boomers in Irvine and other family amusement centers across the country, has been bought for an estimated $200 million.
MidOcean Partners, a private equity firm with offices in New York and London, bought Palace from an investor group led by Windward Capital Partners LP of New York.
Palace owns and runs 32 centers in eight states, some under the Boomers name and others as Raging Waters, SpeedZone, Big Kahuna’s and Wet ‘N Wild.
The centers have arcades, rides, water slides, miniature golf, batting cages and other attractions geared toward families.
Palace counts yearly sales of about $150 million.
Windward Capital put Palace up for sale in an auction a few weeks back in which several bidders sought to buy pieces of the company.
MidOcean teamed on the buy with Orange-based VisionMaker LLC, which runs theme parks and itself is run by former executives from Walt Disney Co. and Universal Studios.
Palace’s chief executive, Larry Cochran, plans to step down and serve as an adviser to the company. VisionMaker’s chief executive, John Cora, is taking over.
Palace has grown by buying several amusement centers in the past few years. The company could see selective buying under MidOcean and seek to grow its existing centers, according to the private equity firm.
