Cedar Fair revives its dividend, to pay 25 cents in December

10/5/2010
BLADE STAFF

SANDUSKY - Cedar Fair LP announced Tuesday morning that it will reinstate its dividend, paying unit holders 25 cents a share in December, a year after suspending the practice for the first time in more than two decades because of financial woes.

The parent company of Cedar Point and 17 other amusement and water parks and five hotels in North America announced that it would pay a distribution of 25 cents per unit on Dec. 15 to holders of record on Dec. 3.

It also reaffirmed its short and long-term financial guidance, citing strong summer attendance at its parks this year.

Cedar Fair suspended its quarterly dividend in November, 2009, when it paid out 25 cents a unit, or the equivalent of $1 a year. It said then that restrictions by its lenders meant that it no longer could make the payout.

The suspension angered many investors, who showed up at Cedar Fair's annual meeting in June to vent their frustration at the loss of what had been as much as $1.90 per unit in distributions in 2008.

The company this year restructured its debt.