26/06/2006

Vue Entertainment, the third biggest exhibition chain in the UK, has just announced a management buyout with the Bank of Scotland in a deal worth roughly £350m.

Vue’s management team, led by CEO Tim Richards, now controls 51% of the shares with Bank of Scotland taking a minority stake. Previous investors who just sold their shares are Boston Ventures, Clarity Partners and Legal & General Ventures.

The buyout will allow management to continue with the growth of their business, which over the past two years has seen the company’s market share of the UK and Irish box office increase to over 20%. Vue’s circuit has now reached a landmark 55 cinemas with 544 screens and 126,351 seats, which attract over 30m customers annually.

Simultaneously, Vue – which was voted International Exhibitor of the Year at Cinema Expo in 2005 – has also acquired the five new Village Roadshow multiplex cinemas in the UK. Expansion continues with four new sites due to open later this year in Swansea, Cleveleys, Exeter and Lancaster. These initiatives follow Vue’s acquisition of the Ster Century cinema chain in May 2005 and reinforce the company’s commitment to further growth that will see the opening of an additional ten new state-of-the-art multiplexes over the next two to three years.

Commenting on the management buyout, Richards said: "This is a landmark event for Vue Entertainment and is a goal that we have been working toward for some considerable time. With the backing of our previous investors we enjoyed exponential growth and are now in a strong position to take the business forward with our new partners Bank of Scotland Integrated Finance. We are poised to realise our further ambitions for Vue, to ensure the company goes from strength to strength, complemented by our strong team and our mission to deliver the best cinema entertainment experience in the UK.”