Six Flags has approved plans allowing the theme park operator to repurchase US$500m (€440.9m, £343m) of its common stock.

To date, Six Flags has repurchased around US$1.3bn (€1.1bn, £892m) of its common stock since introducing its share repurchase programme in February 2011.

Six Flags has been riding high in recent times, with impressive quarterly results and new innovations coming to its parks, the most recent to be the addition of virtual reality to several of its rollercoasters across the US.

In addition to its stock market momentum, company CEO John Duffey has an eye on the east, with plans to develop Six Flags parks under a licensing agreement in various parts of the world, notably Asia.

The company is planning to raise US$300m (€264.5m, £205.8m) for the stock purchase in a non-public offering to chosen investors, with half of the money to be used to pay in part Six Flags’ outstanding loan, which matures in 2022.

In addition to the approved stock repurchase, the company still has around US$10m (€8.8m, £6.8m) available from its current plan.