Shareholders back sale of Ardent Leisure’s US-based Main Event business

Shareholders of Ardent Leisure have overwhelmingly backed a proposal to sell the businesses US-based Main Event division, to NASDAQ-listed restaurant and entertainment business Dave & Busters.

The vote means Ardent Leisure will exit the US entertainment market to focus on its remaining Australian businesses - Gold Coast theme parks Dreamworld and WhiteWater World and the SkyPoint Observation Deck at the top of the Q1 skyscraper at Surfers Paradise.

The deal will see Dave & Busters acquire the  Main Event social entertainment centres for $1.1 billion.

More than 99% of shareholders at today’s extraordinary general meeting voted in favour of the sale, well above the required threshold of more than 50%.

Main Event comprises 44 entertainment centres in the US that offer tenpin bowling, video game arcades and restaurants.

Following settlement of the sale, net proceeds of $455.7 million - equal to 95¢ a share - will be returned to shareholders through a 46¢ a share capital return and a 48.9¢ a share special dividend.

The proposed sale to Dave & Busters, revealed in April, was unanimously recommended by the Ardent Leisure board, led by Chairman Dr Gary Weiss (pictured).

The board noted it represented a valuation multiple of about nine times adjusted earnings.

Through his investment firm, ASX-listed Ariadne, Dr Weiss controls a 4.8% stake in the company.

He took control of Ardent in 2017 after Ariadne built up a 10.9% stake in the company following the Dreamworld ride accident that killed four people in 2016.

Since becoming Chairman, Dr Weiss has driven efforts to turn around the company.

Before today’s vote, Dr Weiss highlighted the “significant value creation” by Ardent Leisure and the Main Event management team following the overhaul of the Ardent board in September 2017.