Abry Partners Acquires Screenvision Media

New York, N.Y., June 6, 2018 – Screenvision Media, a national leader in cinema media and advertising, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement whereby Abry Partners, a leading media-focused private equity firm, will acquire a controlling stake in the company. As part of the agreement, the company’s existing owners, Shamrock Capital and AMC Entertainment, will maintain minority stakes. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Unlike most traditional advertising media, cinema advertising continues to be a growing, premium video offering with its stable and consistent audience delivery. Screenvision Media has dramatically grown the cinema advertising market, demonstrating 30% revenue growth and tripling profitability over the past three years.

“Abry’s investment in Screenvision Media is a true testament to the vitality of our company and the cinema advertising market,” said John Partilla, Screenvision Media CEO. “We’re excited to build on our recent growth with Abry Partners and look forward to all that we can achieve together. Thanks to its scale and unrivaled impact, cinema advertising is uniquely positioned to benefit from eroding audiences on alternative media platforms. We’re at an inflection point in the current media landscape, and the cinema advertising platform couldn’t be more well-positioned for sustained future growth.”

“We see a very bright future for Screenvision,” said John Hunt, Managing Partner of Abry Partners. “We look forward to partnering alongside and investing with their first-rate management team to help further unlock future growth for the company as well as their leading network of exhibitors.”

Screenvision Media’s unique storytelling, data and technology offerings deepen brand engagement and extend impact with audiences as their advertising platform goes beyond on-screen advertising. The company’s “Connected Cinema” solutions and advanced targeting platform, Cintel, enables advertisers to activate before, during and after the movies, while strategically targeting audiences beyond basic ratings and demographics. Furthermore, Screenvision Media recently announced technological innovations and strategic alliances around virtual reality and augmented reality to provide brands with additional high-impact engagement platforms.

“John Partilla and the driven Screenvision Media management team have done a stellar job transforming the company and setting an industry-leading example for the cinema media and advertising sector,” said Steve Royer, Partner at Shamrock Capital. “We are proud to support them and their initiatives and look forward to continuing our partnership with them during the next chapter of its growth.”

“Screenvision Media has been an excellent partner of ours, delivering extraordinary media solutions on-screen and in the lobbies,” added AMC Entertainment CEO Adam Aron. “We are thrilled that Abry has recognized the strength in the Screenvision Media platform and for the investment that they will be providing to continue the already-robust solution provided to ourselves and Screenvision Media’s other 170 exhibitor partners.”

Moelis & Company served as financial advisor and Latham & Watkins LLP as legal advisor to Shamrock Capital on the transaction. LionTree Advisors served as financial advisors and Kirkland & Ellis as legal advisor for Abry Partners. Deutsche Bank has committed to provide debt financing for the transaction on an exclusive basis and is acting as sole Lead Arranger and Bookrunner. The transaction is expected to be finalized this summer.

Insider’s take:  Running a theater place based advertising business is like having all your out of home leases with just a couple landlords.  The value of an in theater place based advertising business depends on the quality of the leases with the theater owners.   The longer the term and the lower the revenue share, the higher the value.  Abry has been a big media investor in the past and is currently investment in hispanic theater operator Maya Cinemas.  Screenvision owner Shamrock Capital also owns out of home advertising company Branded Cities

Here’s a 2 minute video about how Screenvisions pre-movie product.

 

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