Late last week Vue Entertainment, the United Kingdom’s third largest movie theatre chain, was sold to a private equity firm. Doughty Hanson & Co. will reportedly cough up GBP £450 million (USD $730 million) to take over the circuit. The news was picked up primarily by business and trade publications, though depending on how events play out it could actually prove to be rather significant.
Based in London, Vue began it’s life in 1998 as SBC International Cinemas. With backing from Boston Ventures, co-founder and chief executive Tim Richards had opened six theatres by 2003. That was the year SBC pulled off a huge coup by acquiring the much larger Warner Village Cinema chain for £221 million (USD $353.6 million) and rebranding the company as Vue Entertainment. With 42 venues and 384 screens Vue became the third largest exhibitor in the U.K.
Then in June of 2006, Vue announced a management buyout of the company. The Bank of Scotland helped finance the deal which was estimated at £350 million (USD $644 million). By that time Vue had grown to 544 screens across 55 cinemas. Vue’s executive team took a controlling 52 percent share of the company with Coller Capital Ltd. taking a 29 percent ownership and Och Ziff Capitam Managment Group holding a 19 percent stake.
Today Vue operates 68 cinemas accounting for 678 screens throughout the U.K. and Ireland. Over last several years the company has been responsible for about half of all the multiplexes built in the U.K. They also own one theatre in Portugal and another in Taiwan. But that number could soon grow quite rapidly. Bloomberg suggested that Vue might use some of the cash from the Doughty Hanson sale to buy the U.K.’s largest circuit, Odeon, or possibly Cineworld. Another scenario has Vue scooping up a European theatre chain outside the U.K. Of course, they could always expand by opening new cinemas.
Popularity: 2% [?]
The first day of 
Entries RSS
