P.M. BRIEFING : EuroDisneyland Wins EC’s Backing for $7-Billion Theme Park Near Paris

In a bid to reap some of the profits from Europe’s burgeoning leisure business, the European Community’s financing arm said today it is backing the mammoth EuroDisneyland theme park near Paris.

The park, a $7-billion, 5,000-acre venture, is scheduled to open in 1992 and is the biggest new project in Europe’s costly competitive drive to create a new outlet for the billions of dollars spent in Europe each year on leisure.

The European Community long-term financing arm said it will lend the EuroDisneyland project $197 million.

The development of the park will “make a significant contribution to the growth of the EC’s tourism industry,” the European Investment Bank said in a statement.

The bank, which also provides loans on easy terms to developing countries associated with the European Community, declined to specify the terms of the loan.

EuroDisney plans a $1-billion share flotation in mid-October in Paris and London, which will leave Walt Disney Co. with a 49% stake in the project.