Comcast buying out partners for full ownership of Japan park

Comcast NBCUniversal is paying $2.3 billion to buy out its partners to take full ownership of Universal Studios Japan. (Photo by Staka (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY 3.0)

The company said Tuesday that it had agreed to purchase the 49 per cent stake in the theme park from its partners, including Goldman Sachs, a U.S. hedge fund and an Asian private equity firm.

Comcast NBCUniversal says the purchase reflects the company’s confidence in the future growth of Universal Studios Japan, as well as the Asian market.

The company is building a theme park in Beijing and licenses a theme park in Singapore.

The deal is expected to close by the end of April.

Comcast NBCUniversal is a division of Philadelphia-based Comcast Corp.