Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Century Theatres for sale?

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Posted by Jim Ziegler (Member # 86) on 04-01-2005, 04:38 AM:

This was emailed to me. The original source is the Hollywood Reporter, but you have to subscribe to get it. Any of you Century guys heard anything?

Hollywood Reporter

March 31, 2005

Century Theatres on block

By Nicole Sperling
Bay Area-based Century Theatres is looking for a buyer.

According to several sources, the 64-year-old theater circuit has enlisted the services of investment banker Morgan Stanley to manage the sales process. An offering memorandum went out to interested parties Monday.

Century did not return calls seeking comment. Morgan Stanley investment banker Richard Brail declined comment.

Founded in 1941 by Raymond Syufy, the 1,000-screen circuit is run by brothers Raymond and Joseph Syufy. Based in San Rafael, Calif., the circuit boasts theaters throughout Northern California as well as in Arizona, Nevada and nine other Western states.

The Syufy brothers have built up a very successful theater chain over the years, and, sources speculate, are more interested in selling because of the current market conditions, which have seen various chains gobbled up by larger competitors or private equity players looking for fresh investments.

Likely parties for the regional circuit include the three largest U.S. theater chains, Regal Entertainment Group, backed by oil billionaire Philip Anschutz; AMC Theatres, now owned by affiliates of JP Morgan Partners and Apollo Management; and Loews Cineplex, which is backed by Bain Capital, the Carlyle Group and Spectrum Equity Investors. All these companies have said they are interested in growing their business through acquisitions.
According to one exhibitor, "(Century is) a nice circuit, well concentrated in good markets with a modern asset base. It's a strong company."

Also interested in kicking the tires are thought to be such smaller companies as Texas-based Cinemark U.S.A, now owned by Madison Dearborn Partners Inc., and Kerasotes Theatres in the Midwest, which received a $75 million equity investment in 2003 from Providence Equity Partners for the sole purpose of
growing the circuit.

Sources say confidentiality agreements are being executed and letters of intent likely will be accepted this month.

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 04-01-2005, 09:30 AM:

Well the story is an actual story, as to its authenticity, time will tell.

Not sure why the syufy's want to sell. The price would be very high. The company has no debt, and owns 90 percent of its buildings and land. Even if the market went south, it is positioned to survive because of that fact.

If I were a betting man, and I am not, I would say that the chain is valued at about 3 billion, give or take a few million, and not counting the 1 or 2 billion in cash reserves that can be drained by the brothers before a sale, giving them each about 2 to 3 billion a piece, and then retirement of course.

Could be they are just ready to let it all go, getting old, and no confidence in anyone else to run the joint in thier absence. They are the whole and sole owners, with no other partners or stockholders, so It would make sense for them to want to bail instead of handing it to spoiled kids or relatives.

Posted by Jim Ziegler (Member # 86) on 04-01-2005, 02:42 PM:

I wouldn't be surprised if Syufy held on to the land and buildings and acted as landlord. If I am not mistaken, I think a lot of their properties are already set up like that with Century paying rent to Syufy - at the very least when I worked for Century, he building I was in was set up that way.

Posted by Eric Hooper (Member # 1730) on 04-01-2005, 03:58 PM:

quote: Jim Ziegler
interested in selling because of the current market conditions

Wow. Imagine that. One of the biggest getting out of the biz because of "current market conditions." Could it be the decline of patrons due to the DVD 3 month release... Hmm? Hmm? I told you all it was starting... The death of the movie theatre. The Syufy's are smart to get out now, and suck every dollar out of every property they own while they can.

Posted by Jim Ziegler (Member # 86) on 04-01-2005, 05:46 PM:

Everyone is always predicting the death of the theatres.. Remember, it is the theatrical release which makes the DVD sales a reality - anything released straight to DVD is a dog...

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 04-01-2005, 06:48 PM:

Oh HELL no.

This had better be somebody's idea of an April Fool's joke.

Posted by Mike Spaeth (Member # 524) on 04-01-2005, 08:53 PM:

No joke - came through to me from NATO.

Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 04-01-2005, 10:05 PM:

"Remember, it is the theatrical release which makes the DVD sales a reality - anything released straight to DVD is a dog..."

Porn's been going straight-to-video for about 20 years now [Wink]

If this news is true, they should sell their dome theatres to ME! [Big Grin]

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 04-02-2005, 06:31 AM:

Century corporate employees should be using the power of suggestion with two words around the office this week..."Berkshire-Hathaway".

If Century is as healthy as they're being made out to be here, Century would be a good fit in Warren Buffet's portfolio, and that would keep Century independent of being merged into another circuit.

I really don't want to see a Regal or an AMC get the chance to crap all over this chain.

It's a pretty safe bet Electro-Voice and THX don't either.

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 04-05-2005, 09:13 PM:

Funny you should mention warren buffett. He just recently stated that he is going to aggressivly go after investments such as this. I do believe you may have something there.

Ciao

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 04-12-2005, 05:49 PM:

I have made on offer for the chain but there is one hold up...... I insisted that they remove all Strong equipment and replace it with all Kinoton.... They didn't seem really happy about this and I Don't know if they will agree with that so it may hold up the sale ... at least to me.

Mark

Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 04-13-2005, 12:26 PM:

Can't you do that yourself AFTER you buy the theaters?

Posted by Jim Ziegler (Member # 86) on 04-17-2005, 03:18 PM:

Jesse, if he just bought the circuit, where is he gonna get the money for 1000 projectors?

Sriously though, rumor has it that they have a buyer now - some investment banker.

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 04-19-2005, 11:31 AM:

Here on the East coast where the sun shines first, when I was a kid one of the classiest chains with the nicest theatres was the Century chain. The Centure Meadows in Queens was a flagship, first-run operation -- it could have been the model for how theatres are supposed to be operated. It was one of my favorate theatres -- getting to go there was a delight.

Unfortunately it was converted to a hidious 12-plex, which survives today and can be held up as the kind of abomination that happens to beautiful theatres when they are forced to be something they are not -- it's unnatural and the demons from hell now live there. But I digress....anyway, there was the RKO chain with their gorgeous palaces, Skouras (sp?) chain which mainly operated second runs, but Century was surely a dominant player at the time and they seemed to run many of the best neighborhood houses out side of Manhattan. And btw, "neighborhood houses" in those days usually were better run than the biggest multiplexs in Manhattan today, IMHO. I think this Century chain pulled out some time in the mid-80s, selling off most of its properties. The Meadows is the only one that remained a theatre and now lives life as an ugly multi; I am sure if you go in there and listen closely, you can hear its soul quietly whispering, "Please, someone....let me die."

So my question -- is did this current West coast Century chain at one time own theatres in NY, or is it a totally different animal?

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 04-19-2005, 01:50 PM:

Different Century.

Posted by Michael Coate (Member # 757) on 04-19-2005, 09:52 PM:

The Century in question is west coast-based and was formerly known as Syufy [pronounced, I believe, "Sigh-You-Fee"].

Posted by Aaron Haney (Member # 747) on 04-26-2005, 01:00 AM:

Century is currently my favorite chain. Sure, there are a lot of things that could be improved, but all things considered it is generally the best theatre-going experience I can get in the Bay Area.

I would really hate to see a buyer like Reagal or AMC swoop in and ruin things by letting quality slide and adding TV commercials and other annoyances. I hope the new owner is a good one.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 04-26-2005, 01:03 AM:

Are there any other chains besides Century that are still doing all-THX multiplex locations? There's lots of other chains that did the all-THX thing only to let certifications lapse on most or all screens.

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 04-27-2005, 02:01 PM:

Assuming nothing changes in a theatre's equipment, wouldn't THX specs remain valid assuming regular mainenance? I mean, the ambient light and the ambient noise specs for the room would usually not change over the course of years? If all the booth equipment is THX certified and you don't change anything there, what would be the point of paying for certification, aside from the marketing advantage (questionable) of using the THX name?

Assuming it is a THX room and you have been gotten a reputation as a really good house to see a movie in, it will be that rep that will draw in the techophiles rather than the THX on the marquee. Can you be certified say once every 5 years so you pay for it for a year, get the rep, then let it wane for the next 4 and then get it again for a year? Sorry, it's just my non-profit mentality. But it just seems to me that if I do everything to become THX complient, those specs won't change over the course of time. Why should I pay them for the privilidge of using their three letters? Besides, I am not sure they could stop me from saying that my theatre "follows all THX specifications."

Posted by William T. Parr (Member # 677) on 04-27-2005, 03:37 PM:

quote: Bobby Henderson
Are there any other chains besides Century that are still doing all-THX multiplex locations?

Santikos in San Antonio is doing All THX install as are the New AMC theatres since 1999 or so.

quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
I insisted that they remove all Strong equipment and replace it with all Kinoton

Funny since they use and all Christie Package to start with.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 05-03-2005, 01:04 PM:

Now, I've heard some wild buzz that REG and AMC are joining forces to buy Century, where it was originally to be REG alone who would do the Century purchase, but can't due to monopoly laws of the country.

....yep....the bigger they get, the harder they'll fall.....

-Monte

Posted by Jim Ziegler (Member # 86) on 05-03-2005, 03:31 PM:

The buzz coming out of the bay is that an investment firm is buying them...

Posted by Eric Hooper (Member # 1730) on 05-04-2005, 01:09 PM:

Why would Regal want to get any bigger? Aren't they already big enough for their own good, IMO....?

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 05-04-2005, 02:05 PM:

quote: Eric Hooper
Why would Regal want to get any bigger? Aren't they already big enough for their own good, IMO....?

Two possibilities:

One-if you remember the BIG megaplex "crash" of 2000 when a good many of circuits had to do Chapt-11 due to overspending in building megas and their smaller places started to go into the red causing these circuits to do the "domino effect" into massive debt, thus doing the Chapt-11 reconstructive plan. Regal, Edwards, and United Artists need help bad. In came Philip Anshutz(sp), that Denver billionaire who bailed out these three as the major investor of these three who bought out their debt for control of their companies and merged them together as REG with Regal in control of this new company due to that they were the biggest (4000 screens plus) and had the most organized operations. Now, if I'm right on this (for I've only heard this from outside sources, so don't quote me for gospel on this), with this reorganizational plan, Regal now has to "repay" back Anshutz for the investment and show growth, or lose the company all together, thus why all of the huge buyouts and expansion programs that Regal is doing.

Two: - it's simply called "wanting to monopolize the market." But the GOV't won't let this happen.

-Monte