When Hammons Holdings took full ownership of Sydney Zoo in November 2025, the deal came with more than 2,000 animals and a familiar post-acquisition task: putting a clear value on the assets that make the business work.
Leadenhall was engaged to support that process, valuing the intangible assets of the business for accounting and tax purposes. And the most valuable thing at the zoo turned out to be something you will never spot from the safari walkways.
Wild ambitions
Sydney Zoo, to be clear, is the one at Eastern Creek in Western Sydney, not the one along the harbour. It opened in December 2019 after four years of development, backed from 2015 by the Hammon family, the tourism operators behind Scenic World in the Blue Mountains and BridgeClimb on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Opening a zoo weeks before a global pandemic is nobody’s idea of good timing. But the business found its feet, welcoming more than 4.5 million visitors in its first six years, and by late 2025 Hammons were confident it could take the zoo further as sole owner. The strategic logic is easy to follow. The new Western Sydney International Airport is opening nearby, and the zoo sits in the middle of Sydney’s fastest-growing family catchment. Hammons sees the chance to knit its attractions together for visitors while investing in the site itself, starting with practical upgrades like more shade so a hot or wet day no longer keeps families away.
What did they actually buy?
When one company acquires another, accounting standards require the buyer to allocate the purchase price across everything acquired, including intangible assets that rarely appear on a balance sheet until a transaction forces the issue. This exercise is called a purchase price allocation, or PPA, and it is where Leadenhall came in.
The question most people ask first: what are the animals worth? You might think ‘the lion’s share!’ but the answer surprises almost everyone. On the balance sheet, nothing at all.
Zoos deliberately ascribe no value to their animals, and the primary reason for that is important: a market price on an animal encourages trade in that animal, and trade encourages poaching. So the industry works hard to keep its residents off the market. Animals typically arrive through cooperative channels instead, including regional breeding programs, swaps with other zoos and wildlife parks, loans between institutions, and conservation and rehabilitation programs. Sydney Zoo is a full accredited member of the Zoo & Aquarium Association of Australasia and through this participates in a number of critical breeding programs.
Sydney Zoo pays for the care and transport of its animals, but never for the animals themselves. With no purchase cost and no active market for buying or selling, there was simply no value to assign. The stars of the zoo, in accounting terms, are priceless.
The Sydney Zoo brand was another obvious candidate. A name strong enough to build a loyal following in six years carries real value. We also considered whether the zoo’s member relationships should be valued separately. Members clearly matter to a buyer, but under accounting standards the numbers were too small to recognise as a standalone asset.
Then came the standout.
No licence, no lions
The most valuable intangible at Sydney Zoo is one most visitors never think about: the licence to operate.
In New South Wales, exhibiting animals to the public requires approval from the Department of Primary Industries. An operator has to demonstrate standards across enclosure design, animal welfare, keeper expertise and visitor safety before the gates can open. Sydney Zoo’s founders began that journey in 2015 and welcomed their first visitors four years later.
That timeline is the key to the valuation. Chern Fung Yee, the Leadenhall director who led the engagement, puts it plainly. “Without the licence, you have a non-operating zoo. You’d own all the infrastructure, but you couldn’t open to the public. You’d have to reapply for your permits, and that process could take a couple of years. The earnings you’d lose over those years tells you what the licence is worth.”
The animals draw the crowds, but the licence keeps the doors open. For a CFO, the lesson travels well beyond zoos: in regulated businesses, the right to operate is often the asset everything else depends on, and it deserves a hard number.
The Leadenhall difference
Hammons had worked with Leadenhall before, on earlier engagements across its tourism portfolio, and came back when the Sydney Zoo transaction completed.
“Our reports have to stand up to the same scrutiny as anyone else’s,” says Chern Fung. “The difference is who does the work. At Leadenhall, the directors are hands-on and in the room with the client from start to finish.”
For a business as unusual as a zoo, that mattered. Valuing an operating licence means understanding how the business actually runs, from regulatory obligations down to the practicalities of keeping thousands of animals healthy. You only get there by asking the client the right questions and listening properly to the answers.
As the CFO, the completion of the agreement to purchase the Zoo is only the starting point in the journey and not the end. We had worked with Leadenhall a number of years ago on a previous transaction and had no hesitation in reaching out again for assistance with the valuation exercise. In a complex area, Leadenhall’s experience and knowledge provided the confidence I needed that they could produce a report which would meet all of my needs. There was clear and constant communication throughout the process, and they delivered on time across all the areas of review required. I won’t hesitate to use Leadenhall for their expertise across our future business transactions.
Every business carries value that never shows up on the balance sheet until a deal puts it in the spotlight. If you are planning an acquisition, or simply wondering what your own intangible assets are worth, talk to us. We’ll bring the valuation expertise, straight answers and absolutely no monkey business.
