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Rave Cinemas, LLC announces definitive agreements to purchase up to 40 theaters
posted by
joemasher
on
December 24, 2009 at 7:50 am
DALLAS, TX — Rave Cinemas, LLC (“Rave”), a newly-formed company, announced that earlier this month it reached a definitive agreement with National Amusements, Inc. (“NAI”) to purchase the business operations and selected real estate assets of up to 35 NAI theaters and that it closed on the acquisition of an initial group of 29 of those theaters. Concurrently, the company acquired the business operations of four theaters from Boston Ventures-owned Rave Reviews Cinemas, L.L.C. (“RRC”), together with RRC’s corporate infrastructure and the Rave Motion Pictures brand. RRC will retain 21 of its existing theaters, which will be managed by Rave under a management services agreement. The day-to-day business and operations of Rave will be managed by RRC’s former management team, which partnered with equity sponsor TowerBrook Capital Partners L.P. (“TowerBrook”) and co-investors Lambert Media Group (“Lambert Media”) and Charles B. Moss, Jr. to found Rave and pursue the NAI and RRC acquisitions.
Following the close of the acquisitions, Rave, which will operate under the Rave Motion Pictures brand name, anticipates it will own or manage 65 theaters and approximately 1,000 screens located in 20 states across the country and will have a presence in seven of the top ten Designated Market Areas (DMAs) in the country. Rave is expected to become the fifth largest domestic circuit by box office gross and number of screens.
Since its inception in 1999, Rave Motion Pictures has been dedicated to enriching the movie-going experience for audiences across the country. Rave Motion Pictures has set the industry standard for customer experience and comfort by featuring stadium seating, unobstructed viewing utilizing 18-inch risers, and a remarkable 48 inches between rows for maximum legroom and ease of motion. Rave Motion Pictures was also a pioneer in the adoption of current 3-D technology and is a leader in alternative content programming from live sports to concerts to opera.
The transaction is entirely equity-funded by an investment consortium led by TowerBrook. Co-investors include Lambert Media and Charles B. Moss, Jr. Michael Lambert, Founding Partner of Lambert Media, who has extensive experience in the entertainment industry, partnered with TowerBrook earlier this year to identify and pursue investment opportunities in the media and entertainment sectors. Lambert introduced TowerBrook to Thomas W. Stephenson, Jr., Chief Executive Officer of Rave, and he collaborated closely with TowerBrook on the execution of the joint NAI/RRC theater acquisitions. Mr. Moss, a seasoned investor and operator in the real estate and entertainment sectors, will serve as Chairman of Rave, and Mr. Lambert will serve as Vice Chairman. AGM Partners provided acquisition advice to the buyer group on the transaction.
Mr. Stephenson remarked, “It has been a great pleasure to work with our founding partner, Boston Ventures, to build the Rave Motion Pictures brand into what it is today. We look forward to starting the next chapter in our company’s history with our new partners at TowerBrook along with Michael Lambert and Charley Moss, while continuing to manage the Boston Ventures-owned theaters on their behalf.”
ABOUT TOWERBROOK CAPITAL PARTNERS L.P.
TowerBrook Capital Partners L.P. is an investment management firm with approximately $5 billion of capital under management. With offices in New York, London and San Francisco, the firm focuses on making investments in North American and European companies. TowerBrook primarily pursues control-oriented private equity investments in large and middle market companies, partnering with highly capable management teams, often in situations characterized by complexity. For more information, visit www.towerbrook.com
ABOUT LAMBERT MEDIA GROUP
Lambert Media Group is an investment and management company focused on value and strategic growth opportunities in entertainment, media and technology. Founded in 1992, the company has a track record of creating significant value for investors through acquisition, development and divestiture of properties that have benefited from the company’s management strength and relationships. For more information, visit www.lambertmediagroup.com
ABOUT CHARLES B. MOSS, JR.
Charles B. Moss, Jr. has spent his career in the motion picture and real estate industries. In addition to his closely held, four generation family owned business interests in those industries, Mr. Moss also serves as president of Variety – The Children’s Charity of New York, and as chairman of the Toronto International Film Festival Group Foundation.
ABOUT BOSTON VENTURES
Boston Ventures is one of the oldest and most experienced media and communications-focused private equity firms in North America. Since its founding in 1983, the firm has invested nearly $2.5 billion in over 70 companies, actively targeting investments in the media, information and publishing, entertainment, and communications industries. For more information, please visit www.bostonventures.com
ABOUT AGM PARTNERS
Founded in 2003, AGM Partners is a New York-based strategic advisory firm focused on the Media and Communications industries in North America and Europe.
SOURCE Rave Cinemas, LLC
Comments (15)
I think this is the same Charlie Moss that runs the Bowtie cinema chain, here in Connecticut. If so does this mean a merger between the old Showcase Cinemas here and Bowtie theaters?
It is the same Moss. And Rave is a part of Bowtie, and will be run as a seperate division.
It has been confirmed that National Amusements has sold its two remaining theaters in Michigan, the Showcase Flint West and the Showcase Ann Arbor to Rave.
Here you go again, Mr. Kent. Please be gentlemanly enough to contact me directly and air your complaints— I’ll happily chat with you over the phone or will meet with you. I think you may be a former disgruntled employee with the initials T.K…
Who is taking over National Amusement’s lease option for the Ridge Hill site in Yonkers, NY??? They have definitely dropped out of it for certain.
According to the updated Rave web site, they still do not have any theaters in New York even after including the former NA theaters.
That may be due to the fact that, as I understand, Rave bills itself as a “digital presentation” only chain, and when they acquire theatres that are not 100% digitally equipped, i.e. show actual film (!), they operate those theatres under a different name than Rave. For example, Rave picked up the Beverly Center 13 from Mann Theatres, but they are not advertised as Rave. I noticed some of the Cincinnati locations they picked up are still not on the Rave site, but are on the Showcase site.
Having been around exhibition since the 60’s this seems surreal to me. Just the mention of Redstone entering the market would cause shutters (no pun intended) in the marketplace.
100 % digital applies only to “Rave Motion Pictures” sites. It’s too confusing, they run Rave Motion Pictures, Rave Digital Media and now Rave Cinemas. Pretty stupid if you ask me, and a bit misleading when you visit their site, click on amenities and they claim they’re 100% digital and 100% stadium seating (in sites denoted as “RMP”.
I’d give them the benefit of the doubt but they updated the rest of their site just as quickly. Sorry, not every theater will have a standard Rave look. If anything they’ve acquired the best chain in America, so what if not all their theaters are stadium seating and digital, deal with it and stop misleading your customers.
It’s funny that the 2 chains that used to dominate CT are no longer factors. At least AMC or Regal didn’t take over, you all know what they do to their theatres. For those who will miss NA here is what you won’t be seeing before the movie anymore. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qipKi7XIGHU
Rave sucks !! plain and simple……I have been twice, once was enough, top down masking for scope pictures, make you believe its a big screen, until the movie starts, then half of the screen disappears. I hate Rave, and Im not the only one who feels that way. Terrible management, poor projectionists who dont know how to run a projector, over the top hi pricing,at concession and box office, I could go on and on…..You will be sorry for letting Rave into your town !!!! There is NOTHING to Rave about, except the negative. I have nothing good to say about them. On a scale of 1-10, I give Rave a negative 7.
Wow Twistr54, sounds like someone has an ax to grind.
I have always had positive experiences with Rave, both in Columbus and in Dallas where I currently live.
I wish them the best in this venture because it would be a good thing for fans of movies.
Went to Showcase Southington 12 tonight for Sherlock Holmes. Unlike when Loews Plainville switched to all AMC stuff overnight, Everything here is still NA. They still have the opening exit door trailer,(which is in my last post, I’m sure it’ll be gone soon) but there was no feature presentation bump. I bet they’re being slow with their transition.
I’ve been to RAVE in Florida and they were a class act. National Amusements in New York and the UK are a disgrace. I do not know how they are run elsewhere in the US.
In the UK they are well known as the worst chain in the country.
I’ve never been to anyone of the ones you’re talking about, but the ones in CT were the best run theatres in this state. I really hope Rave doesn’t F them up.