Noncontrolling Interests, Partnerships and Joint Ventures

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2013

Noncontrolling Interests, Partnerships and Joint Ventures

Noncontrolling Interests, Partnerships and Joint Ventures

9. Noncontrolling Interests, Partnerships and Joint Ventures

Redeemable noncontrolling interests represent the non-affiliated parties’ share of the assets of the three parks that are less than wholly-owned, including SFOT and SFOG (including Six Flags White Water Atlanta which is owned by the partnership that owns SFOG).

The following table presents a rollforward of redeemable noncontrolling interests in SFOT and SFOG (in thousands):

Balance at January 1, 2013	$	437,941
Purchase of redeemable units of SFOT and SFOG	—
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests	—
Distributions to noncontrolling interests	—
Balance at March 31, 2013	$	437,941

See Note 8 for a description of the partnership arrangements applicable to SFOT and SFOG, the accounts of which are included in our condensed consolidated financial statements.  The redemption value of the partnership units at March 31, 2013 and December 31, 2012 is approximately $357.6 million.

Noncontrolling interests represent the non-affiliated parties’ share of the assets of HWP.  At March 31, 2013 and December 31, 2012, our ownership interest in the HWP joint venture is approximately 49%.  The following table presents a rollforward of noncontrolling interests in HWP (in thousands):

Balance at January 1, 2013	$	3,934
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests	414
Distributions to noncontrolling interests	—
Balance at March 31, 2013	$	4,348

During the third quarter of 2012, the venture (of which we hold a 39.2% interest) that owned dick clark productions, inc. (“DCP”) sold DCP to a third party.  We received approximately $70.0 million for our portion of the proceeds from the sale on October 1, 2012 and we received an additional $0.3 million in January 2013 related to the sale of another small investment that was owned by the venture.  In 2012, we recorded a gain of approximately $67.3 million after recovering our $2.5 million investment and a $0.5 million license that allowed us to air DCP shows at our parks.  A portion of the sale proceeds are being held in escrow pending resolution of certain items related to the sale.  If all of these items result in favorable outcomes, we would receive up to $10 million of additional proceeds from the sale.  We have not recorded a receivable for any of these additional amounts due to their contingent nature.  As a result of adopting fresh start accounting, our investment in DCP was adjusted to its fair value as described in Note 1(b).