On December 8, 2017, Belgium-based Kinepolis Group NV (Kinepolis) completed its acquisition of Landmark Cinemas Canada Limited Partnership (Landmark Cinemas) from TriWest Capital Partners (TriWest) and management shareholders for approximately $123 million. Landmark Cinemas is Canada’s second-largest movie theatre exhibition company, with a market share of 10 per cent. Based in Calgary, it operates 44 movie theatres in Central and Western Canada, with a total of 303 screens and 55,000 seats.
Kinepolis, a Belgian publicly traded company listed on Euronext Brussels, is a trendsetter in the cinema business. Following the Landmark Cinemas acquisition, the international award-winning cinema chain now operates 92 movie theatres with a total of 802 screens and more than 180,000 seats in Belgium, France, The Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Poland and Canada. The acquisition of Landmark is Kinepolis’s first acquisition outside of Europe and fits in with its expansion strategy, providing it with new growth opportunities through acquisitions and new-build movie theatres.
Kinepolis was represented by Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP with a team that included Cameron Rusaw and Sarah Elharrar (M&A), George Addy and Elisa Kearney (competition and Investment Canada), Raj Juneja (tax), Sarah Powell (environmental) and Pawel Mielcarek (real estate). Stibbe cvba/scrl acted as Belgian counsel to Kinepolis with a team that included Jan Peeters and Liselot Claeys (M&A). Kinepolis was represented in-house by Hilde Herman, Senior Legal Advisor.
TriWest and the other sellers were represented by Stikeman Elliott LLP with a team that included Craig Story, Carolyn Simpson, Stephen Wintermute and Matt Dolan (M&A), Julie D’Avignon and Kevin Guenther (tax) and Susan Hutton and Megan MacDonald (competition and Investment Canada).