SYDNEY - [AAP] Embattled theme parks operator Ardent Leisure (ASX: AAD) is selling its bowling and entertainment business to private equity investor Quadrant and the Timezone Group's Steinberg family.

Ardent will sell the division, spread across Australia and New Zealand, for $160 million, to Quadrant and Steinberg family joint venture The Entertainment and Education Group.

The divestment will free up Ardent's funds for investment in its other divisions, chairman Gary Weiss said.

"This sale relieves Ardent of the requirement to make the significant further investment needed to support this strategy and provides Ardent with increased flexibility to continue the expansion of Main Event and the reinvigoration of Theme Parks," he said in a statement.

Ardent's bowling and entertainment division, which operates AMF Bowling Centres, Kingpin bowling lounges and Playtime arcades in Australia and New Zealand, recorded revenue of $127.7 million in 2016/17.

The company said in November the business was growing solidly, with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation up around 20 per cent from a year earlier.

Ardent Leisure posted a $62.6 million loss for the 2017 financial year after steep falls in visitor numbers following a fatal accident on the Thunder River Rapids ride at its Dreamworld park in Queensland in October, 2016, and the park's subsequent 45-day shutdown.

 

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