Hoyts cinema chain bought
by Chinese billionaire Sun Xishuang
CINEMA operator Hoyts Group has been acquired by an investment fund backed by one of China’s richest men for an undisclosed amount.
Hoyts’ existing owner Pacific Equity Partners had been eyeing a possible stock market listing — with valuations for the group at about $850 million — but shelved plans in the past month to instead focus on a trade sale of the cinema group.
Hoyts’ new owner will be British Virgin Islands-based investment fund ID Leisure Ventures, founded by Chinese billionaire Sun Xishuang, who also owns a majority interest in property developer Dalian Yifang Group.
“We look forward to the investment and development of Hoyts going forward under the ownership of a new investor, ID Leisure,” said Hoyts’ recently-appointed chief executive Damian Keogh.
“Hoyts is embarking on a number of exciting opportunities and together with ID Leisure, we will continue to invest in the exceptional customer experience currently offered to 20 million attendees annually.”
Mr Keogh said the operator will continue to focus on innovation and expansion following the recent launch of its up-market cinema brand Hoyts Lux.
Hoyts operates 43 cinemas across Australia and New Zealand, as well as the Hoyts Kiosk DVD distribution chain, and cinema advertising business Val Morgan.
The late Kerry Packer’s Consolidated Press Holdings bought Hoyts in 1999 for $405m. In 2005 the group was sold to another Packer company, PBL, and West Australian Newspapers, with each company taking a 50 per cent stake.
In 2007, private equity firm PEP acquired the shares in a deal that valued the company at $440m.
A spokeswoman for PEP declined to comment on the price paid.
Mr Sun’s net worth was estimated by Forbes in October to be $1.3 billion, made mostly through real estate.
But while he made his fortune from Dalian Yifang, the bulk of his wealth reportedly now comes from his shareholding in billionaire Wang Jianlin’s Beijing-based company Dalian Wanda, which in May purchased the US-based cinema operator AMC Theatres for about $US2.6 billion and which owns various other companies ranging from hotel operators to department stores.
Dalian Wanda’s shopping mall development arm, Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties, today made its debut on the Hong Kong stock exchange, in the world’s biggest IPO by a real estate firm.
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