Purchase Of Giant Cinemark Expected

PLANO, Texas – Cinemark, the United States’ 3rd-largest cinema chain, announced March 12 that it has signed an agreement to be acquired by Chicago-based private investment firm Madison Dearborn Partners. The transaction was approved by the circuit’s board and its shareholders, and was expected to close in April.
The deal, valued at about $1.5 billion according to The Hollywood Reporter, ends a 1996 investment made by private equity concern, the Cypress Group, which invested $139 million for a 44-percent stake. The circuit’s founder, chairman and CEO Lee Roy Mitchell, and other senior executives will “retain significant equity stakes in the company” according to the trade publication.
Mitchell, along with other existing Cinemark staff, was expected to remain with the company after the acquisition.
Plano, Texas-based Cinemark operates 3,142 screens in 33 U.S. states and 12 international markets.
In Focus - May 2004