Association of Leading Visitor Attractions

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14 Mar 2018

Holovis plans significant Asian expansion as Road King acquires stake in company

Holovis has secured a multimillion pound investment from asset management company Road King, with the Hong Kong firm now owning a minority investment in the experiential design specialists.

Road King – with its core business including investment, development, operation and management though Asia – has now taken up a stake in Holovis, which was founded in 2004 and has offices in London, Shanghai and China.

With the investment, Road King has expanded its investment division’s focus to bring together specialist technology companies such as Holovis, who will work alongside other complementary businesses within the Road King portfolio.

“This significant investment will allow Holovis to grow more strategically, particularly in the Far East, while maintaining our market leadership position in delivering unique, innovation-led solutions for our global clients,” said Stuart Hetherington, CEO of Holovis.

“With Road King’s backing we will accelerate our development of immersive, mixed reality solutions, tailored to specific market applications in the enterprise, entertainment, museum and simulation sectors, including the rollout of our extended-experience augmented and mixed reality technology platform.”

Through the investment, Holovis will now significantly expand its Asian operation across all of its market sectors, integrating its technology into Road King’s existing and new real-estate projects across China.

“This partnership with Holovis, along with our other technology investments, brings a unique capability to Road King’s vision and strategy in designing and building the next-generation of visitor attractions and public venue experiences in the Far East,” said Road King CEO William Zen.

“This investment also supports and underpins Holovis and Road King’s plans to expand into the Chinese enterprise and simulation markets, which are both showing strong year-on-year growth opportunities.”

One of Holovis’ most recent projects, is the soon-to-open Wicker Man wooden rollercoaster at the Merlin-operated Alton Towers in the UK. Working alongside Merlin’s Magic Makers, as well as Great Coasters International and audio experience specialists IMAScore, Holovis helped to create all elements of the multi-sensory experience for the Wicker Man attraction, which opens on Friday (16 March).