Guy Hands’ Terra Firma puts Odeon and UCI cinema chains up for sale with £1bn price tag
Guy Hands’ private equity group, Terra Firma, has announced plans to put its European cinema chain Odeon & UCI Group up for sale toward the end of this year, in a potential £1bn deal.
The private equity group said it may plump for an IPO instead.
Terra Firma, best known for its botched takeover of record label EMI in 2007, paid €650m (£475m) for Odeon back in 2004. Later that year, it added UCI to its stable for €350m. In 2011, it tried to sell them but gave up when it couldn’t get the bids for its
“We will look to begin the process to sell Odeon towards the end of the year,” said Hands yesterday.
“We are likely to appoint banks by May. Possible buyers could include US cinema groups or South American cinema firms, and private equity groups from Europe, the US, and China.”