London-based private equity firm TowerBrook Capital Partners L.P. acquired a stake in Rave Cinemas LLC, a new platform that will pursue movie theater transactions. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Rave Cinemas will operate under the Rave Motion Pictures brand. The deal was also backed by Lambert Media Group, a Beverly Hills, California-based media and entertainment investment firm, and Charles B. Moss, Jr., a partner at Bow Tie Partners, a private equity family office that invests in entertainment and real estate opportunities. Moss will serve as chairman of Rave Cinemas, and Michael Lambert will serve as vice chairman. Michael Lambert, a former executive at 20th Century Fox Film Corp., founded Lambert Media in 1992.
In speaking with Mergers & Acquisitions, Lambert said the past 12 months have been a particularly good period for the theatrical exhibition business. The industry, he said, “has enjoyed success and buoyancy even in this recessionary period.”
Chief executive officer Thomas W. Stephenson, Jr. will remain with the company. Aside from the addition of Moss and Lambert, no other changes are expected to Rave Motion Pictures’ management team. Lambert commented to this publication, “Exhibition has not been the most innovative industry in the media mix in the past 15 years, but Tom has been extremely aggressive and innovative in reinventing the theater business.”
The new platform company acquired four theaters from Rave Reviews Cinemas, a Boston Ventures portfolio company, and will purchase about 35 theaters from National Amusements Inc.
The new company has a sizable presence in the Southern United States. The company is focused on developing stadium seating theaters, and hosts alternative content, such as 3-D and live showing of sporting events. Upon close of the acquisition, Rave Motion Pictures expects to be located in 20 states.
Boston Ventures is located in Boston, Massachusetts and New York City. In addition to TowerBrook’s London headquarters, the firm has secondary locations in New York and San Francisco.
Calls placed to Charles Moss were not returned by press time.
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