You have asked a very complicated question so I'll try my best to answer it. To be honest it's all very complicated, so make yourself a nice cup of tea and have a sit down and a read.
Here is a break down of the Euro Disney group of companies that own and operate
Disneyland Paris.
Euro Disney S.C.A. is the company that owns and operates Disneyland Paris.
40% of shares are held by The Walt Disney Company, 10% by the Saudi Prince Alwaleed, 5% by Invesco Ltd and 45% by other shareholders (some of us here on the DIS boards), with shares traded on the Euronext Paris exchange.
Euro Disney S.C.A. is the holding company of the Group and is listed company. The main asset of the company is its investment of 82% of the share capital of its subsidiary, Euro Disney Associés S.C.A. ("EDA"). The general partner of Euro Disney S.C.A. is EDL Participations S.A.S., a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company (TWDC) the administrator of Euro Disney S.C.A. is Euro Disney S.A.S., which is also a subsidiary of the TWDC.
Euro Disney Associés S.C.A. operates the Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studio Park, the Disneyland Hotel, Davy Crockett Ranch and Golf Disneyland. It also manages the real estate segment of the Group in Val d'Europe.
The remaining 18% of EDA share capital is held by two indirect subsidiaries of TWDC: EDL Corporation S.A.S. and Euro Disney Investments S.A.S.
The General Partners of Euro Disney Associés S.C.A. are Euro Disney Commandité S.A.S., a wholly-owned company of Euro Disney S.C.A. and EDL Corporation S.A.S. and Euro Disney Investments S.A.S. and the administrator is Euro Disney S.A.S.
EDL Hôtels S.C.A., is a wholly-owned company of EDA, which operates the Disney Hotels, Santa Fe, Cheyenne, Newport Bay Club, New York and the Sequoia Lodge ( everything apart form the Disneyland Hotel and Davy Crockett Ranch). It also operates the Disney Village.
The General Partner of EDL Hotels S.C.A. is EDL Hotels Participations S.A.S., a société par actions simplifiée and a wholly-owned company of the Euro Disney S.C.A. The gérant of EDL Hotels S.C.A. is Euro Disney S.A.S. They operate the partner hotels which are leased to other hotel groups Kyriad, Vienna International Dream Castle Hotel, Vienna International Magic Circus Hotel, Radisson Blu Hotel and Algonquin's Explorers Hotel.
There are also two Financing Companies Phase IA and Phase IB Financing.
The Phase IA Financing Company, Euro Disneyland S.N.C., is a company incorporated as a French société en nom collectif which owns the Disneyland Park and leases it to Euro Disney Associés S.C.A.
The partners of the Phase IA Financing Company are various banks, financial institutions and companies holding an aggregate participation of 83%, and Euro Disneyland Participations S.A.S., a French société par actions simplifiée and an indirect wholly- owned subsidiary of TWDC, holding a participation of 17%.
The Group has no ownership interest in the Phase IA Financing Company. The Phase IA Financing Company is managed by a management company, Société de Gérance d'Euro Disneyland S.A.S., an indirect wholly-owned company of TWDC.
The Phase IB Financing Companies are incorporated as French sociétés en nom collectif and are governed by the same principles as the Phase IA Financing Company. Each of these companies rents the land on which the related Disney hotel, is located, from EDL Hôtels S.C.A.
The partners of the Phase IB Financing Companies are also various banks and financial institutions that are creditors of the Phase IB Financing Companies. The management company of each of the Phase IB Financing Companies is EDL Services S.A.S., a French société par actions simplifiée and a wholly-owned subsidiary of EDA.
So for example one company owns the land which the hotel is built, and another company owns the hotel and it is then leased back to another company to operate, the same thing happens with the Disney Village.
Then there is Centre de Congrès Newport S.A.S., is a French société par actions simplifiée and is indirectly wholly-owned subsidiary of TWDC. It entered into a ground lease with EDL Hôtels S.C.A. to finance and acquired the Newport Bay Club Convention Centre and, when completed, leased it back to EDL Hôtels S.C.A. with an option to repurchase the convention centre in the future.
So as you can see it's a web of inter weaving companies that own one thing, the park or a hotel which then leases it back to the parent company who then has another company set up to operate it.
Rumors of TWDC buy out of Euro Disney S.C.A. have been circulating since an article appeared in
TIME magazine in 2012.
But if this were to happen TWDC would have to buy everybody out, from Prince Alwaleed (who injected $350m in 1994 to save the park from bankruptcy) to myself and my wife. Phillip Gas visited Prince Alwaleed a few weeks before he left DLP.
But TWDC has deep pockets, they purchased Marvel in 2009 for $4.2 billion and Lucasfilm (Star Wars / Indiana Jones) in 2012 for $4.06 billion.
If there is a buy out I expect shareholders would be offered around 1 TWDC share for every 100 Euro Disney S.C.A. shares held.
