SBC International Cinemas
 |
|
| Private | |
| Founded | May 2003 |
| Founder | Timothy Richards (CEO) Alan McNair (CFO) |
| Headquarters | West End, London, United Kingdom |
|
Number of locations
|
85 cinemas (across SCO, ENG & WAL) |
| Owner |
OMERS Alberta Investment Management Corporation |
| Website | www |
Vue Entertainment (otherwise known as Vue Cinemas, and stylised as vue), formerly SBC International Cinemas, is a cinema company operating in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands. The company was formed in May 2003 by the acquisition of Warner Village Cinemas by SBC and the subsequent rebranding of the business as Vue. As of 2017 the company has 85 cinemas in the UK, making it the third largest cinema chain in the country, with over 800 screens, including 265 3D screens, 11 Extreme Screens, 7 Gold Class screens, 3 Scene Screens and Bars, and 2 IMAX screens.
The company expanded through a number of acquisitions, including the Ster Century chain, Apollo Cinemas and Multikino. In June 2006, Vue's executive team completed a management buy-out with the backing of Bank of Scotland Corporate, taking a 51% stake in the business and buying the four remaining Warner Village sites it had been operating under contract from Village Roadshow.
The company was bought by the private equity firm Doughty Hanson & Co in 2010. In June 2013, Doughty Hanson & Co announced the sale of the company to the Canadian firms OMERS and Alberta Investment Management Corporation for £935 million.
The company's original slogan was entitled The Future of Cinema, was used from its opening in May 2003 until November 2015. Thereafter, the company decided to have a makeover, and – with a new rebranding and black covering instead of orange – renamed the slogan as Big Screen Entertainment, respectively. The slogan has remained the same since then. They also used the slogan 'Enjoy the Vue' for a year, with some Vue cinemas still having that signage.
The company was formed in May 2003, when SBC bought Warner Village Cinemas from Warner Bros. for £250 million. At the time, SBC owned four cinemas, and Warner Village Cinemas owned 36.
In April 2005 the chain acquired the Ster Century chain from Aurora Entertainment; this included the highest grossing cinema in the UK or Ireland at Liffey Valley Shopping Centre in Dublin, Ireland.
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Wikipedia