New owner for Great Wolf Resorts

Centerbridge Partners, a $25 billion investment firm, has agreed to buy water park operator Great Wolf Resorts Inc. from Apollo Global Management LLC.

The transaction value is $1.35 billion including debt, according to Bloomberg News. The deal is expected to be completed next quarter, the companies said in a Tuesday statement.

Great Wolf operates 11 resorts in the U.S. and has a 12th location in California under construction. One of its locations is in the Village West area near Sporting Park and the International Speedway in Kansas City, Kan.

Secondary buyouts, in which private equity firms sell companies to each other, rose 15 percent in 2014, according to Bain & Co. The Boston-based consultant said this month that firms are “eager to put capital to work,” including to buy companies “groomed by private equity owners.”

Apollo bought Great Wolf, based in Madison, Wisc., in 2012 for $740 million after a month-long bidding war.

Centerbridge, the private equity firm founded by Mark Gallogly and Jeffrey Aronson, is “fully committed to expanding the company into new markets,” senior managing director William Rahm said in the statement.

This story was originally published March 24, 2015 at 3:17 PM with the headline "New owner for Great Wolf Resorts."