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Cedar Fair, News and Updates, News Stories

Unitholders vote could force Kinzel out as chairman

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From the Sandusky Register…

Cedar Fair’s unitholders have voted overwhelmingly to appoint a new chairman of the board with no previous ties to the company, current chairman Dick Kinzel announced at today’s special meeting of Cedar Fair unitholders.

A second proposal, to make paying cash dividends a higher priority than paying off debt, is too close to call, and the result will not be known until all the votes are in and counted. That will be in a few days, he said.

Kinzel will stay on as CEO until the end of year and will remain as chairman until the board takes action.

Admission, Cedar Fair, News and Updates, News Stories

Cedar Fair Entertains A Record 22.8 Million Guests In 2010

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Cedar Fair Press Release

SANDUSKY, OHIO, January 5, 2011 — Cedar Fair (NYSE: FUN), a leader in regional amusement parks, water parks and active entertainment, announced today that attendance at its 17 locations totaled 22.8 million guests in 2010, up 7.8%, or 1.7 million visits from the Company’s total attendance of  21.1 million in 2009.

“We saw strong gains in attendance in all regions throughout the year, including significant improvements in season pass visits and group sales, as our aggressive marketing efforts and investments in new attractions drew increasing numbers of guests to our parks,” said Dick Kinzel, chairman, president and chief executive officer.  “Through these efforts, we have been able to leverage the growing popularity of our parks and successfully navigate through a very challenging economic period by continuing to offer guests a best-in-class experience.”

Attendance at Cedar Fair’s northern region parks, which include Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio and Canada’s Wonderland near Toronto, increased 3.7% to 12.7 million guests in 2010 compared with 12.2 million in 2009.  The Company’s southern region parks entertained 4.8 million guests in 2010, up 17.9% from 4.1 million a year ago.  Its western region parks hosted 5.3 million guests in 2010 versus 4.8 million guests in 2009, for an increase of 9.7%.  Average in-park guest per capita spending in 2010 decreased approximately 1% from the prior year.

“The record attendance is the latest highlight of what has been an outstanding year for Cedar Fair,” Kinzel continued.  “In July 2010, we completed the refinancing of our debt to create a capital structure with a stronger balance sheet and provide the flexibility to take advantage of further value-creating growth opportunities.  In addition, under the new financing agreement, we were able to reinstate the cash distribution to unitholders in December 2010, after the distribution had been suspended for a year due to covenants within the prior credit agreement.  As we look ahead to the 2011 season, we will continue to focus on adding value to the guest experience while maintaining our commitment to delivering excellent value to our unitholders, including growing the distribution.”

The Company plans to issue a news release and host a conference call with analysts on Tuesday, February 15, 2011, to discuss 2010 fourth-quarter and full-year earnings results.  The Company’s 2010 year-end tax information will be processed and mailed to unitholders at the beginning of March 2011.  The same tax information will be available to unitholders through the Investor Relations section of the Company’s corporate website (www.cedarfair.com) beginning February 28, 2011.

About Cedar Fair
Cedar Fair is a publicly traded partnership headquartered in Sandusky, Ohio, and one of the largest regional amusement-resort operators in the world. The Company owns and operates 11 amusement parks, six outdoor water parks, one indoor water park and five hotels. Amusement parks in the Company’s northern region include two in Ohio: Cedar Point, consistently voted “Best Amusement Park in the World” in Amusement Today polls, and Kings Island; as well as Canada’s Wonderland, near Toronto; Dorney Park, PA; Valleyfair, MN; and Michigan’s Adventure, MI.  In the southern region are Kings Dominion, VA; Carowinds, NC; and Worlds of Fun, MO.  Western parks in California include: Knott’s Berry Farm; California’s Great America; and Gilroy Gardens, which is managed under contract.

Additional Information About the Special Meeting of Unitholders
This may be deemed to be solicitation material in respect of the Company’s Special Meeting of Unitholders scheduled for January 11, 2011.  On December 10, 2010, in connection with the Special Meeting, the Company filed a definitive proxy statement and a form of proxy with the SEC and the definitive proxy statement and a form of proxy has been mailed on or about December 13, 2010 to the Company’s unitholders of record as of December 9, 2010. In addition, the Company will file with, or furnish, to the SEC all additional relevant materials.  BEFORE MAKING ANY VOTING DECISION, INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS OF THE COMPANY ARE URGED TO READ ALL RELEVANT DOCUMENTS FILED WITH OR FURNISHED TO THE SEC, INCLUDING THE COMPANY’S DEFINITIVE PROXY STATEMENT, BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE SPECIAL MEETING.  Investors and security holders will be able to obtain a copy of the definitive proxy statement and other documents filed by the Company free of charge from the SEC’s website, www.sec.gov.  The Company’s Unitholders will also be able to obtain, without charge, a copy of the definitive proxy statement and other relevant documents by directing a request by mail or telephone to Investor Relations, Cedar Fair, L.P., One Cedar Point Dr., Sandusky, OH 44870, telephone: (419) 627-2233, or from the Company’s website, www.cedarfair.com or by contacting Morrow & Co., LLC, at (203) 658-9400 or toll free at (800) 206-5879.

The Company and its directors and executive officers and certain other members of its management and employees may be deemed to participate in the solicitation of proxies in respect of the Special Meeting of Unitholders. Additional information regarding the interests of such potential participants is included in the definitive proxy statement.

Cedar Fair, News and Updates, News Stories

Cedar Fair Retains Korn/Ferry International To Assist With Ongoing Succession Planning Process

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Cedar Fair Press Release

SANDUSKY, OHIO, December 6, 2010 – The Board of Directors of Cedar Fair Entertainment Company (NYSE: FUN), a leader in regional amusement parks, water parks and active entertainment, today announced that it has retained Korn/Ferry International, one of the world’s leading executive recruiting firms, to assist the Company with the final phase of its previously announced and ongoing succession planning process.

Among other things, Korn/Ferry will work with the special committee of independent directors of the Cedar Fair Board, which includes C. Thomas Harvie, David L. Paradeau and John M. Scott III, to identify and evaluate qualified candidates to succeed current Chief Executive Officer Dick Kinzel, whose employment agreement expires on January 2, 2012.  This confidential process will include both internal and external candidates and is expected to be completed by the end of the second quarter of 2011.

“Today’s action is an important step toward the completion of our thorough process for a seamless leadership transition,” said Tom Harvie, Cedar Fair’s lead director of the special committee.  “We look forward to working with Korn/Ferry to identify and evaluate candidates who can help lead the Company in its plan to deliver long-term growth and value creation.”

Harvie said that, out of fairness to all involved and to maintain the confidentiality of the process, the Company would not comment further on the process or any candidates under consideration until a successor is named.

Cedar Fair, News and Updates, News Stories

Kinzel points out he’s nearing retirement

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From the Sandusky Register…

Dick Kinzel, Cedar Fair’s president, chief executive officer and chairman of the board, says the latest corporate drama at his company could be much ado about not very much.

As the Sandusky Register and other newspapers have reported, Cedar Fair’s biggest investor, Q Funding, has filed SEC documents calling for a shareholder vote on whether Cedar Fair should find a new board chairman while keeping Kinzel aboard as CEO.

Kinzel, 70, points out that he’s scheduled to leave around the end of 2011, anyway, and the company is actively is looking for a successor.

“I’m only going to be here one more year,” he said. “I think the process will kind of take care of itself.”

When we spoke to Kinzel, we asked how the political changes in Washington, D.C., including the Republican takeover of the U.S. House, would affect his company. I’m afraid his answer won’t generate a big page one story for me.

“I don’t think that’s going to affect us at all, to be honest with you,” he said. “We go with who’s in control. We just operate in accordance with the rules.”

— Tom Jackson

Cedar Fair, News and Updates, News Stories

Cedar Fair seeks Kinzel successor

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From the Sandusky Register…

SANDUSKY

Cedar Fair says it has launched the hunt for a new CEO to replace Dick Kinzel, 70, who has run the company since 1986.

Tuesday, Kinzel said his employment agreement ends on Jan. 2, 2012, and Cedar Fair’s board is working to find a successor.

“As is the case with any public company, this is a confidential process that is expected to include both internal and external candidates,” Kinzel said. “Out of fairness to all involved, we will have no further comment until we are ready to announce a new CEO.”

Cedar Fair spokeswoman Stacy Frole said she can’t offer a timetable on when a new CEO will be announced.

Also Tuesday, Cedar Fair announced its 2010 third-quarter and nine-month results, with attendance and revenues both up through October. Promotions were also awarded to four company executives.

Net revenues for the first nine months of 2010 are up $37.4 million from the same months in 2009. Last year’s revenue in that period was $810.5 million; this year, it’s $847.9 million.

Through Sept. 25, Cedar Fair’s amusement parks had 19.8 million visitors, up 6 percent — about 1 million people — from the same period last year, Kinzel said.

Results through October appear even better. Based on preliminary results, attendance is up 8 percent — about 1.6 million people — through the first 10 months, with revenues going from $914 million to $974 million.

Cedar Fair officials also said they plan to resume quarterly cash distributions in 2011, beginning with 8 cents per limited partner unit in March 2011. A total of about 35 cents will likely be paid next year, they said.

The company had previously announced it would pay 25 cents per unit in December.

Cedar Fair also announced three new executive vice presidents Tuesday.

Those include Peter Crage, formerly corporate vice president and chief financial officer; H. Philip Bender, formerly regional vice president since June 2006 and, prior to that, vice president and general manager of Worlds of Fun in Kansas City, Mo.; and Richard A. Zimmerman, who had been regional vice president since June 2007.

Those employees will handle more of Kinzel’s day-to-day duties, which Kinzel said will provide him more time to focus on growing the business and developing the company’s executives.

David R. Hoffman, formerly vice president of corporate tax, is now vice president of corporate finance and tax.

Cedar Fair’s biggest investor, Dallas area investment banker Geoffrey Raynor, has filed a request with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, asking for a special meeting of investors to consider two proposals: Bring in a new chairman of the board and have Kinzel relinquish that post to concentrate on his CEO duties; and, secondly, make an increase in cash distributions a bigger priority than paying off the company’s debt.

Raynor’s company, Q Funding III, is still awaiting SEC approval of a proxy statement that would allow Raynor to begin his campaign for the changes, a spokesman said Tuesday.