A Chinese billionaire has acquired Australia's second biggest cinema chain, Hoyts Group, in a deal understood to be worth almost $1 billion.
Private equity firm, Pacific Equity Partners, offloaded the movie company on Tuesday to China's 149th richest man Sun Xishuang, ending months of speculation.
Mr Sun bought Hoyts through his British Virgin Islands-based investment company, ID Leisure Ventures. It comes after Pacific Equity Partners [PEP] halted plans last month for to float Hoyts on the ASX.
Financial terms remain confidential but it is believed the deal with Mr Sun was worth up to $900 million.
Fairfax Media understands that ID Leisure will retain Hoyts' management, led by chief executive Damian Keogh and chairman David Kirke, with sources saying that the fund is supportive of their strategy of growing premium formats.
Mr Keogh said: "We look forward to the investment and development of Hoyts going forward under the ownership of a new investor, ID Leisure".
"We will continue to invest in the exceptional customer experience currently offered to 20 million attendees annually," Mr Keogh said in a statement.
"Innovation and expansion will be a focus following the recent launch of Hoyts Lux, a new premium cinema experience which will be rolled out across Australia and Zealand".
PEP acquired Hoyts Group in December 2007 from West Australian Newspapers and Publishing and Broadcasting Limited, then majority owned by James Packer, in a deal reportedly valuing the company at $440 million
The Australian Financial Review's Street Talk column revealed Mr Sun has Hoyts' mystery bidder earlier this month.
Mr Sun is familiar with the movie business, having links to cinema giant Dalian Wanda.
Forbes estimates Mr Sun's wealth at $1.3 billion, the bulk of which now comes from his 6.3 per cent stake in Hong Kong-listed Wanda Commercial Properties. According to Forbes, he made his fortune from the Dalian Yifang Group, one of the biggest property developers in China.
Mr Sun's projects with Wanda, which is run by China's fourth richest man Wang Jianlin, include building resorts at Changbai Mountain in northern China.
It had been speculated that Mr Wang was interested in acquiring Hoyts in past months. Earlier this year his Dalian Wanda group bought US cinema operator AMC Theatres for $US2.4 billion ($2.96 billion)
Mr Sun is believed to have a 4.2 per cent interest in Wanda Cinemas.
PEP, Australia's largest private equity firm, has clocked up a flurry of deals, including the sale of Griffin's Foods to Universal Robina Corp, and returned $3.5 billion to its limited partners in the past 12 months.
It has recouped most of its original Hoyts investment back after a string of refinancings, including a $442 million deal last year that came just as Term Loan B markets were peaking for issuers.
PEP bought the company shortly before the financial crisis and endured a sustained media recession as a result. However, Hoyts earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation has almost doubled from $48 million at acquisition to $86 million this year.
During its ownership, PEP converted Hoyts cinemas from film to digital projection -which has been considered a big part in lifting the company's earnings - and the introduction of DVD movie rental kiosks at shopping centres. Hoyts Group also runs cinema and digital out-of-home advertising platform Val Morgan.
