Odeon cinema chain put on the market for £1bn
Offers of around £1bn are being sought for the Odeon and UCI cinema chain after its private equity owners, announced its intent to put the business on the market this May.
Potential buyers being lined up include several US cinema groups, private equity firms and South American cinema operators.
Odeon was bought by Terra Firma for €650min 2004 and was merged a year later with UCI following its purchase for €350m has been hit by a 24 per cent slide in profits to £69.2m.
Terra Firma is still weighing up its options however and may opt to list the business on the London Stock Exchange instead, mindful that previous bids to sell in 2011 and 2013 failed.
The UK cinema market is dominated by Odeon, Vue and Cineworld with a 70 per cent market share between them.