DUBAI. High profile foreign acquisitions made by local companies usually make banner headlines in this part of the world. So it is to be expected that the sale of one such acquisition will receive muted media attention at best, as happened in the case of Dubai International Capital (DIC) agreeing to sell Britain’s Tussauds Group to Legoland owner Merlin Entertainments for $2.55 billion. DIC will, however, retain a 20 percent stake in the combined company, which will be the second biggest theme parks business after Disney. DIC bought Tussauds - which runs the Madame Tussauds and London Eye tourist attractions - for $1.57 billion in 2005. Merlin, which is based in Britain, is majority owned by private equity group Blackstone. The past few years have witnessed regional companies acquiring a string of foreign assets in their bid to diversify their global investment portfolios. The results have been mixed. The $6.85 billion takeover of ports and ferry operator P&O by Dubai Ports World famously came unstuck. By contrast, the $1.38 billion purchase of Doncasters and $1.33 billion buy of Travelodge by DIC have been hailed as unqualified successes. Dubai’s Emaar recently paid $161.2 million for Hamptons International. According to one report, during the first eight months of 2006 GCC companies acquired close to $26 billion in assets in Britain, Europe and North America. Then there have been untold numbers of futile bids - such as the one to buy Liverpool Football Club - quite apart from those that have met with a sticky end. The DIC sale of Tussauds does not fit into either of these categories but may be an indication of the fact that things abroad are changing as fast as they are changing at home. It is all the more surprising a development because DIC had decided in January this year to spend $75 million in opening Tussauds Group waxwork museums in Hollywood and Washington, in addition to existing operations in New York and Las Vegas. It is also not clear what has become of the plan to build new waxwork museums in the US, Dubai and Mumbai to complement the group’s operations in Shanghai, Hong Kong, London and Amsterdam.

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