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France’s Second Biggest Exhibition Chain CGR Cinemas Is Up for Sale

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variety.com

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentSlowing emerging from a two-year pandemic, France’s second biggest multiplex chain behind Pathé, CGR Cinemas, has been put on the market by its owners, Luc Raymond and Charles Raymond, Variety has confirmed.The family-owned business has an estimated value of about $1.1 billion, according to Jocelyn Bouyssy, CGR’s long-time managing director who has been tapped to find a buyer for the group.Founded in 1966 in the Southwestern town of La Rochelle, CGR Cinemas now boasts 74 venues, over 700 screens and more than 2,000 staffers on the payroll.

The company began diversifying in recent years by investing in the French distribution company Apollo Films, as well as in hotels and restaurants.

Under Jouyssy’s leadership, CGR Cinemas also launched a new premium format called ICE (Immersive Cinema Experience) that outperformed Imax, Dolby Cinema and 4DX in 2019.

In that pre-pandemic year, CGR Cinemas had an annual revenue of roughly €280 million ($303 million), which fell to €240 million ($260 million) in 2021 with losses of close to €45 million ($48 million), according to Bouyssy.CGR Cinemas was shut down for several months in 2020 and 2021, like all other theaters, due to the pandemic, and reopened with limited seating capacity and mandatory masks in May 2021.

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