France’s Second Biggest Exhibition Chain CGR Cinemas Is Up for Sale
Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentSlowing emerging from a two-year pandemic, France’s second biggest multiplex chain behind Pathé, CGR Cinemas, has been put on the market by its owners, Luc Raymond and Charles Raymond, Variety has confirmed.The family-owned business has an estimated value of about $1.1 billion, according to Jocelyn Bouyssy, CGR’s long-time managing director who has been tapped to find a buyer for the group.Founded in 1966 in the Southwestern town of La Rochelle, CGR Cinemas now boasts 74 venues, over 700 screens and more than 2,000 staffers on the payroll. The company began diversifying in recent years by investing in the French distribution company Apollo Films, as well as in hotels and restaurants.