MANN MOVIE THEATERS FOR SALE YEAR AFTER $165 MILLION BUYOUT.Byline: Dave McNary Daily News Staff Writer The Mann Theaters chain, owner of the world's most famous movie palace and 59 other theaters, has been put on the block a year after being bought out for $165 million. A spokesman for Warburg Pincus Warburg Pincus is a private equity firm with offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. It has been a leading private equity investor since 1971. The firm currently has approximately $14 billion under management, and invests in a range of industries including information and , which bankrolled last year's buyout, confirmed Thursday that the Wall Street investment firm has hired Bear Stearns The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. (NYSE: BSC) is the parent company of Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., one of the largest global investment banks and securities trading and brokerage firms in the world. to sell the chain, which operates nearly 400 screens in California and Colorado including the flagship Chinese Theatre Chinese theatre has a long and complex history. Today it is often called Chinese opera although this normally refers specifically to the popular form known as Beijing Opera; there have been many other forms of theatre in China. in Hollywood. Mann, which recently opened the Plant 16 complex at the former General Motors auto factory in Van Nuys, had no comment about the development. Daily Variety reported that Mann chief Jeff Lewine, who headed the buyout, has been attempting to line up financing to buy out Warburg. The decision by Warburg to bail out of its investment in Mann reflects the brutally competitive nature of the exhibition industry. Aggressive players such as AMC (Advanced Mezzanine Card) See AdvancedTCA. , Edwards and Pacific have been focusing on opening ``megaplexes'' - with 20-plus screens, stadium seating and massive snack bars - because they deliver far better financial performance than conventional theaters. By the time Warburg bought Encino-based Mann from a joint venture of Warner Bros BROS Brothers BROS Benefits and Retirement Operations Section (King County, Washington) BROS Barnes and Richmond Operatic Society (London, UK) . and Paramount, it was already lagging behind rivals in opening new theaters. During the past year, the popularity of megaplexes has resulted in reduced cash flow for Mann, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Hank Lightstone, who heads a Denver investor group that explored buying out the chain in 1997. ``You'd have to put in a ton of money to bring a lot of the Mann theaters up to speed if you wanted to compete,'' he said. ``The word has been out for a couple of weeks that Warburg feels it's lost too much money and wanted to cash out. It's a scary time to be in the business.'' In addition to Van Nuys, Mann has opened new theaters in Glendale and Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. in recent years and will add five auditoriums at the Chinese site as part of the massive $385 million TrizecHahn development. |
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