One of the world’s largest leisure park operators, Six Flags, has revealed the identity of the buyer of its European theme parks.

Palamon Capital Partners, a private equity firm, has agreed to pay $183m (£102m) for the parks.

All parks will be renamed and the new company will operate as Star Parks Luxembourg.

William Muirhead was also named chief executive and Michael Jolly, former Tussauds chair, will join as a non-executive chair.

Six Flags is now left with just one amusement park in its European portfolio – the Warner Bros Movie World in Madrid, Spain, which it helped found.

Kieran Burke, chair, said: “While we continue to believe that there are potential internal and external growth opportunities in Europe, the sale of our European operations will enable us to focus our management and capital resources more completely on our North American operations.”

Last month, the troubled company also sold its Worlds of Adventure Park in Cleveland, Ohio, to Cedar Fair for $145m (£80.8m).

The offloading tactic marks a dramatic turnaround in the company’s strategy.

It has for long been eager to reduce its debt, which has soared to around $2bn (£1.12bn). Six Flags has admitted that cash from the deals would be used to cut the outstanding balance. Details: www.sixflags.com