PVR acquires Chennai's popular SPI Cinemas: Sathyam Theatre fans get emotional on twitter

PUBLISHED DATE : 13/Aug/2018

PVR acquires Chennai's popular SPI Cinemas: Sathyam Theatre fans get emotional on twitter

 

On Sunday, cinema enthusiasts from Chennai were in for a surprise, when word of their favourite Sathyam (and other theatres owned by SPI Cinemas) being sold to a new management had broken out. Now, acquisitions in theatre business has generally never affected an audience per se, but since Sathyam is a name that has been synonymous with the city's pop-culture legacy for years now, it naturally brought out a lot of emotions from folks, for whom the theatre is no less than an iconic symbol.

Their worries ranged from fear of Sathyam's legendary pop-corn [the corns for which have been sourced from Nebraska for over 15 years now]  being discontinued, to the new management aka PVR raising the prices of movie tickets, delaying shows and what not. 
These views aside, the fact remains that Escape, Palazzo, S2 and other theatres of the SPI Group from all the Southern states and Mumbai, will now be primarily managed by PVR, with a 71.7% stake at the shares.

Reportedly, this deal which PVR intends to close in another 30 days cost them Rs. 633 crore in stock and cash and they view this merger as 'an attractive platform to expand market in the South Indian geography'. It is also being suggested that SPI Cinemas' current owners Kiran and Swaroop Reddy, will continue to be a part of the managing team and that the merger will complete in another 9-12 months.

//Update: SPI Cinemas has ensured that none of their standards - be it with food or customer service will see a change and that they will continue to be operational even post the PVR take-over (official statement here)

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