- published: 13 Apr 2016
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Great Wolf Resorts is the world's largest chain of indoor water parks which owns and operates its family resorts under the Great Wolf Lodge brand. The company is headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin.
Great Wolf Lodge was founded by brothers Jack and Andrew "Turk" Waterman, the original owners of Noah's Ark water park. The first Great Wolf Lodge location opened in 1997 in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. The chain has since added ten additional locations with two more currently in development. In addition to a water park, each resort features specialty restaurants, arcades, spas, fitness rooms and children’s activity areas.
On March 13, 2012, Apollo Global Management announced an agreement to acquire the company for $703 million. Subsequently an investor group filed a complaint in Delaware Chancery Court stating that the deal, in which Apollo would pay $5 a share, undervalued the company. Great Wolf's financial advisor, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., valued Great Wolf between $3.74 and $7.98 a share prior to the deal, and securities analyst Jeffrey Thomison of the Louisville, KY firm Hilliard Lyons told the Wisconsin State Journal a $6 offer price could be justified based on Great Wolf's financials. Deutsche Bank's range had been determined from eight different valuation techniques, including a Leveraged Buyout Analysis that set a range of $4.40 to $5.70 based on values "a financial buyer might be willing to pay." The price range from that analysis was later revised upward by over 30 percent, to $6.10 to $7.56 a share.