Terra Firma ‘In Talks’ With Odeon Buyer

Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd is in talks with a buyer for its cinema chain Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group, the firm’s founder Guy Hands said. The name of the potential buyer was not released. Reuters reported that the firm would want a minimum of $1.96 billion for the company.

(Reuters) – Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd is in talks with a buyer for the planned sale of its cinema chain Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group , the buyout group’s founder Guy Hands said on Friday.

Hands told Reuters the buyout firm would want at least 1.2 billion pounds ($1.96 billion) for the asset.

“We’ve had a number of unsolicited inquiries and we are in discussions with one party,” Hands told Reuters in an interview at the Boao Economic Forum in China.

Terra Firma has been in the spotlight since its 4 billion pound deal to take music business EMI private — done at the height of the buyouts boom in 2007 — turned sour.

Battling under the weight of its debt, the company finally fell into the hands of its lender Citigroup Inc in February, wiping out Terra Firma’s 1.7 billion-pound equity investment in the business.

($1 = 0.612 British Pounds)
(Reporting by Farah Master; Editing by Denny Thomas)