Merlin Entertainments Group, the private-equity backed owner of Madame Tussauds and Legoland, is preparing to go public in either London or New York and has been meeting with potential investors, its chief executive said yesterday.

The world’s second largest visitor attraction operator behind Walt Disney, had revenue of over £1 billion for the year to December 2012, and was valued at £2.25 billion in 2010 when private equity firm CVC Capital Partners bought a stake.

“We are definitely now considering our options,” chief executive Nick Varney said, adding a sale would allow it to pay down debt of £1.27 billion as at the end of December, and help fund expansion in the US and Asia.

The company said as part of any IPO it would consider bringing its leverage level down below three times earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation from a current multiple of 3.6 times. Merlin, owned by the Danish investment company Kirkbi A/S that controls Lego Group, and private equity firms Blackstone Group and CVC, put off plans for a listing in 2010 due to jittery markets.

With the summer months being Merlin’s key trading period, Varney said the group would likely make a decision towards the end of summer, with a float possible in late 2013 or early 2014.

“We’ve been putting a lot of work into preparing the ground and making sure that if we do (IPO) ... we can move relatively quickly and with people knowing and feeling comfortable about what they are dealing with.”

Varney said the company, which currently earns 20 per cent of its revenue in the US, would prefer to list in London, but was also considering New York. He declined to comment on how much Merlin might be worth.

Yesterday Merlin reported a 16.5 per cent rise in operating profit to £258 million for the year, as expansion in the US and Asian markets helped mitigate the impact of the eurozone crisis, wet weather and London Olympics.

The group opened seven new attractions in 2012, taking it to almost 100 over four continents, and will open another six this year including a Sea Life centre in Manchester, England and Legoland discovery centre in New York.

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