Italian private equity operator 21 Investimenti and  tv broadcasting group Mediaset sold  the Italian leading cinema chain The Space Cinema to UK group Vue Entertainment, a European leader in modern state-of-the-art multiplex cinema (download here the press release). The deal has been valued 105 million euros for the company that reached 170 million euros in revenues in 2013.
The Space was launched in 2009 by merging Italy’s former Warner Village Cinemas loop with Mediaset’s Medusa Multicinema, both previously owned by Mediaset,  the group owned by the former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi‘s family. The deal was structured so that 21 Investimenti, the private equity operator founded by Alessandro Benetton (son to one of the founders of the well known Italian casual wear group) controlled a 51% stake in The Space and Mediaset (through Rti spa) controlled the rest the of the capital.
The Space ceo Giuseppe Corrado made the group grow in the last 5 years both by acquisitions (Planet and Cinecity chains were bought so that now the group owns 36 multiplex in Italy) and by internal growth, thanks to a strategy aiming at increasing the average expenditure per person and offering also different entertainment contents on top of movies such as sport and concerts.
The Italian deal is Vue’s fourth acquisition in the past three years and is supported by follow-on investment from Vue’s Canadian  financial shareholders, OMERS Private Equity and Alberta Investment Management Corporationr (AIMCo). During this period, Vue has more than doubled the number of cinemas and screens under its ownership from 70 to 187 cinemas and from 678 to 1,727 screens. Vue acquired Apollo in the UK in May 2012, CinemaxX in Germany in August 2012, Multikino in Poland in October 2013 and expects to complete the Space deal in November.
