PikiWiki Israel 8903 Dizengoff Square in Tel - Aviv

Cinema City International N.V. is the largest cinema operator in Central and Eastern Europe as well as in Israel and the third largest cinema operator in all of Europe. The Company operates 99 multiplexes with a total of 966 screens. In the CEE countries the Company operates cinemas under the Cinema City brand name and in Israel under the Yes Planet and Rav-Chen brand names. Theatre operations are the Company’s core business comprising the sale of tickets, snacks and beverages in concession stands as well as cinema advertising conducted under its brand name “New Age Media”. The Company is one of the fastest growing cinema chains in Europe with current plans to open 36 new multiplexes (approximately 380 screens) based on existing binding lease agreements. The Company is also a film distributor in all its countries of operations. This business is conducted through its local “Forum Film” subsidiaries. The Company conducts real estate activities and owns assets located in Bulgaria, Israel and Poland and include: the Mall of Rousse and other plots of land in Bulgaria, plots of land designated to develop an amusement park in Poland, an indirect interest of 39,78% in Ronson Europe NV and an office building in Herzliya, Israel and 5 other properties in Israel. The Company shares are traded on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. A takeover by

Cineworld Cineworld Group plc is a British cinema operator headquartered in London, England. It is the world's second-largest cinema chain (after AMC Theatres), with 9,518 screens across 790 sites in 10 countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Irel ...

was announced in January 2014.

History

The Greidinger family, the majority owners of Cinema City International N.V., started their cinema business in

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

, Israel, Moshe Greidinger (grandfather of the company's current CEO also named Moshe Greidinger) started building his first cinema in 1929, which was opened in 1931 as Ein Dor. In 1935, he opened his second cinema in Haifa, Armon Cinema (palace in Hebrew), a large

art-deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

building that contained 1,800 seats. Armon Cinema became the heart of Haifa’s entertainment district; due to its large capacity, the cinema was often used for performances by the

Israel Philharmonic Orchestra The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (abbreviation IPO; Hebrew: התזמורת הפילהרמונית הישראלית, ''ha-Tizmoret ha-Filharmonit ha-Yisra'elit'') is an Israeli symphony orchestra based in Tel Aviv. Its principal concert venue ...

and the

Israeli Opera The Israeli Opera, formerly known as the New Israeli Opera, is the principal opera company of Israel. It was founded in 1985 after lack of Israeli government funding led to the demise of the Israel National Opera. Since 1994 the Tel Aviv Performi ...

. In 1958, the family expanded to

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

, by acquiring the Chen cinema in Dizengoff Square. They expanded further by opening additional cinemas in Israel, among them the Armon Cinema in Ramat-Gan in the mid 1960s. In 1967, the family entered the

film distribution Film distribution (also known as Film exhibition or Film distribution and exhibition) is the process of making a movie available for viewing by an audience. This is normally the task of a professional film distributor, who would determine the marke ...

business when it acquired a company named Forum Film. In 1982 the "Chen" cinema was turned into the first cinema multiplex in Israel.

International expansion

In 1997, the international expansion of the business started, Cinema City International N.V. (CCI) was established and opened its first cinema in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...

, Hungary and by 2005 was the largest multiplex operator in Hungary. In 1999 CCI started in Poland and by 2005 had 12 multiplex theaters there. In 1999, CCI bought the only existing multiplex theater in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

in the Czech Republic. It also operates multiplex cinemas in Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia.Cinema City - Company History
/ref> In 2005, CCI opened its distribution office, Forum Hungary in Budapest. The company represents Disney, Spyglass and Revolutionary Releasing in Hungary. In the first 6 months of 2006 it became the second biggest film distribution company in the country.

IPO on the Warsaw Stock Exchange

In December 2006, Cinema City International had an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investme ...

on the

Warsaw Stock Exchange The Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE), pl, Giełda Papierów Wartościowych w Warszawie, is a stock exchange in Warsaw, Poland. It has a market capitalization of PLN 1.05 trillion (EUR 232 billion; as of December 23, 2020). The WSE is a member of the ...

at a price of 19.30 zloty per share ($6.765), raising $106 million at a company value of $343 million after money. The underwriters of the

were Bank Austria Creditanstalt and

ING Group The ING Group ( nl, ING Groep) is a Dutch multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Amsterdam. Its primary businesses are retail banking, direct banking, commercial banking, investment banking, wholesale banki ...

. The company chose to list on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, since Poland became its major market, representing about 40% of the group's total revenues.

Takeover by Cineworld

In January 2014, it was announced that

will buy the entire cinema business of Cinema City for an enterprise value of approximately GBP503 million, to be paid in cash and shares. Cinema City will hold 24.9% of the issued shares of the consolidated Cineworld group. Cinema City will retain its real estate business, which will not be transferred to the combined company.

References

External links