Medusa and Benetton acquire Warner Village
Medusa Cinema, owned by the Berlusconi family, and 21 Investimenti, a private equity firm run by Alessandro Benetton, will acquire Warner Village, the movie theatre chain belonging to the Time Warner Group, which has 15 multiplexes in Italy.
According to company insiders, 21 Investimenti has acquired 51% of Medusa Multicinema (owned by Mediaset) and the new, merged company arising is currently formalising the acquisition of Warner Village, which will be examined by the Italian and European anti-trust regulatory bodies.
The new theatre circuit, which will join with the Medusa Cinema multiplexes, should be active by July and will comprise 25 multiplexes, or 254 screens. It will be comparable in size to the current multiplex leader, US company UCI, which by the end of 2009 will have 260 screens, of which 20 in digital.
(Translated from Italian)
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