Cinepolis acquires E-City Ventures' Fun Cinemas, screen count rises to 193

The deal value is being estimated between Rs 450-480 cr

Mexican multiplex operator Cinépolis has announced purchase of 100% of the share equity capital in Mumbai-based Fun Cinemas (E-City Ventures), a subsidiary of Subhash Chandra’s Essel Group.

With this acquisition, Cinépolis’ screen count in India has risen to 193, across 41 multiplexes and 31 cities. Fun Cinemas has a total of 83 screens across 24 properties. This is the first acquisition of Cinépolis in India since it started its operations in 2009.

Business Standard had in December 2014 reported that the deal, which was in process for around four months, was finalised. While he refused to comment on the financials, industry sources reveal that the deal size is between Rs 450 crore and Rs 480 crore.

Javier Sotomayor, Managing Director, Cinépolis India, said, “We have a clear vision of being the leader in Cinema exhibition in India and operate 400 Screens by 2017. This acquisition is a step in that direction. Fun Cinemas is an established brand in India and has been around for more than 10 years. This would help us hit the ground running with the acquired properties.”

“There are two key drivers for the decision to acquire Fun Cinemas. First of all, this will strengthen the reach of the company in the two main cities of India, Delhi and Mumbai. Secondly, there are 5 markets where Fun Cinemas and Cinépolis are present together and the synergies brought in would maximize the profitability of joint operations," he said.

Talking about the priorities of Cinépolis, Sotomayor added: “For Cinépolis, the objective is to provide the best customer service to our patrons across all the properties. This will need aligning the processes and policies followed by Fun Cinemas with those that Cinépolis' international team has been developing for over five years in each of the markets in which the Mexican multiplex operators have been growing, to create a brand and an ad-hoc knowledge in each of these jurisdictions and specifically in India. We will continue to operate under two different brand names until the time we integrate our processes.”

Cinépolis currently has operations in 30 Indian cities viz. Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Surat, Jaipur, Bhopal, Patna, Thane, Vijaywada, Vadodara, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Bhatinda, Ambala, Panipat, Ghaziabad, Mangalore, Hubli, Kota, Gwalior, Coimbatore, Khanna, Dibrugarh, Guwahati, Ghaziabad and Ranchi.