TV3 Owner Acquires Vue Cinemas
17 Nov 2010 :
Vue CEO Tim Richards Tweet Doughty Hanson & Co, the group that owns TV3 has announced that it is to acquire Vue Entertainment, one of the UK’s leading developers and operators of state-of-the-art multiplex cinemas, from Cavendish Square Partners. Vue has the third largest market share in the UK in terms of box office via its 68 UK cinemas and 2 Irish cinemas and 678 screens. Doughty Hanson & Co, which purchased TV3 in 2006, is one of the largest independent private equity firms in Europe and has now commenced its acquirement of Vue Entertainment, one of the UK’s leading developers and operators of multiplex cinemas from Cavendish Square Partners, affiliated investment funds of Och-Ziff Capital Management Group and the existing management team. The Vue management team, including Tim Richards (CEO) who established the company, will be reinvesting in the transaction. Vue Entertainment has enjoyed recent success in that 50% of all new multiplex cinemas built in the UK in the past couple of years have been a Vue multiplex. The most recent openings include the all digital Vue Westfield cinema in London which has gone on to break records as the highest grossing cinema in the country. Furthermore, cinema attendance has grown year on year in the UK, even against the backdrop of the economic downturn; box office revenues in the UK rose 11% in 2009 and admissions were up 6%. Vue now plans to roll out widespread digital projection and has announced that it will be working with Sony Digital Europe on the rollout of 4K projectors across Vue’s cinema portfolio, which is set to be completed by 2012. Tim Richards, CEO of Vue Entertainment, said of Doughty Hanson’s acquirement of the company that: “Vue has come a long way since it was launched in 2003 and this next phase of our journey with Doughty Hanson as our new partner is going to be very exciting. We will continue to innovate, enhance and grow the business. We will continue to open fantastic new state of the art cinemas such as the new 14 screen all digital Vue multiplex cinema in Westfield’s Stratford City which opens in September next year.” Julian Huxtable, Senior Principal at Doughty Hanson also commented on the move, saying: ”“Vue has achieved consistent financial performance and has succeeded in growing through the recent recession. We believe that Vue offers a strong platform for growth and we are excited about working with Tim and his team on the next exciting chapter of the Vue story.” For more information about Doughty Hanson & Co. visit www.doughtyhanson.com For more information about Vue Entertainment visit More at www.myvue.com Free Industry Newsletter Subscribe to IFTN's industry newsletter - it's free and e-mailed directly to your inbox every week. Click here to sign up.

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