SeaWorld's Largest Investor Defaults on Loan, Turns Over Shares

(Bloomberg) -- SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. said that Sun Wise Co., its largest stockholder and an affiliate of China’s Zhonghong Zhuoye Group Co., handed the shares over to a securities agent after defaulting on its loans.

SeaWorld has canceled a design-and-development deal with Zhonghong, a real estate developer headquartered in Beijing, according to a regulatory filing Monday. The Orlando, Florida-based theme-park owner said the cancellation won’t have an immediate impact on its business.

Also in the filing, SeaWorld said Yongli Wang, who had served as chief strategy officer for Zhonghong, resigned from its board. Yoshi Maruyama, a consultant to Zhonghong serving as SeaWorld’s chairman, was asked to stay in that role, the company said.

Zhonghong acquired the largest stake in SeaWorld two years ago from Blackstone Group, which had controlled the company.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Palmeri in Los Angeles at cpalmeri1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, Rob Golum

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