Sea Life Park — the longtime visitor attraction at Makapu'u — has been sold to Parques Reunidos Group, one of the world's largest amusement park companies.

Parques Reunidos, which is headquartered in Madrid, Spain, announced yesterday it had purchased Sea Life Park from Dolphin Discovery, the Mexico-based company that has owned the 22-acre attraction since January 2005. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

"We are pleased to announce our acquisition of Sea Life Park, a world-renowned marine attraction that is enriched by excellent staff and the cultural traditions and beauty of the Hawaiian Islands," said Richard Golding, executive president of Parques Reunidos Group.

The company said no personnel changes are planned. Jesus Bravo, who was appointed general manager of the park in 2006 under Dolphin Discovery, will stay on under the new ownership.

Sea Life Park has about 200 employees and last year had about 300,000 visitors. The park features 24 dolphins, and a large collection of sea lions, monk seals, penguins, turtles and stingrays. And it is home to the famous wholphin Keikaimalu — a hybrid of dolphin and false killer whale.

Parques Reunidos already owns the largest collection of dolphins and marine mammals in Europe. The zoos and aquariums it operates include the Madrid Zoo, L'Oceanographic Marine Park in Valencia, Spain, and Marineland in Antibes, France, as well as facilities in Italy, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Argentina and the United States.

The new owners vowed future investment in the continued improvement of Sea Life Park, according to Jose Diaz, managing director of Parques Reunidos:

"Our goal is to refine and elevate Sea Life Park's reputation as a world-class attraction where visitors and residents alike can discover and enjoy the wonders of Hawai'i's vibrant marine life."

The outgoing owners said they were not looking to sell the park after investing $3 million since 2005 and being credited with a successful improvement plan. Eduardo Albor, president and CEO of Dolphin Discovery, said that Parques Reunidos approached them a few months ago as part of a plan to expand worldwide.

"We were finally influenced to sell Sea Life Park to Parques Reunidos because they are one of the most experienced operators of zoos and aquariums in the world and are well placed to further develop the park's business and brand," Albor said.

He said the sale also will enable Dolphin Discovery "to consolidate and build upon our operations closer to home in Mexico and the Caribbean, where we already have other projects under development."

Prior to that ownership, the park had struggled in recent years.

Dolphin Discovery was founded in 1994 and operates dolphin/marine parks in Cancun, Cozumel, the Mayan Riviera and Puerto Vallarta, all in Mexico, and on the Caribbean islands of Tortola and Anguilla. A new facility is scheduled to open in Grand Cayman later this year.

Parques Reunidos, which has the financial backing of London-based Candover Investments, now operates 62 amusement, water and animal parks in Europe, the United States and South America, and was ready to expand to this side of the world in the Pacific. Its annual revenues exceed $700 million with total annual visitors to its facilities in 2007 at about 22 million.