Merlin Entertainments, the UK theme park group owned by buy-out group Blackstone, is preparing a stock market flotation, setting the stage for a flurry of UK listings in the new year. The planned offer would be the first big listing on the LSE since the onset of the financial crisis and would value Merlin at about £2bn. Goldman Sachs, Citi, Deutsche Bank, UBS and Nomura have been lined up to advise Merlin, whose assets include Madame Tussauds and Legoland.