UPDATES EXCLUSIVE: Rave To Acquire 35 National Amusements Complexes

I had this scoop back on December 7th. (Shame on the Los Angeles Times for trying to grab credit.) Today there’s an official announcement:

rave naDallas, TX – December 21, 2009 – Rave Cinemas, LLC (“Rave”), a newly formed company, announced that earlier this month it reached a definitive agreement with National Amusements, Inc. (“NAI”) to purchase the business operations and selected real estate assets of up to 35 NAI theaters and that it closed on the acquisition of an initial group of 29 of those theaters. Concurrently, the company acquired the business operations of four theaters from Boston Ventures-owned Rave Reviews Cinemas, L.L.C. (“RRC”), together with RRC’s corporate infrastructure and the Rave Motion Pictures brand. RRC will retain 21 of its existing theaters, which will be managed by Rave under a management services agreement. The day-to-day business and operations of Rave will be managed by RRC’s former management team, which partnered with equity sponsor TowerBrook Capital Partners L.P. (“TowerBrook”) and co-investors Lambert Media Group (“Lambert Media”) and Charles B. Moss, Jr. to found Rave and pursue the NAI and RRC acquisitions.

Following the close of the acquisitions, Rave, which will operate under the Rave Motion Pictures brand name, anticipates it will own or manage 65 theaters and approximately 1,000 screens located in 20 states across the country and will have a presence in seven of the top ten Designated Market Areas (DMAs) in the country. Rave is expected to become the fifth largest domestic circuit by box office gross and number of screens.

Since its inception in 1999, Rave Motion Pictures has been dedicated to enriching the movie-goingexperience for audiences across the country. Rave Motion Pictures has set the industry standard for customer experience and comfort by featuring stadium seating, unobstructed viewing utilizing 18-inchrisers, and a remarkable 48 inches between rows for maximum legroom and ease of motion. Rave Motion Pictures was also a pioneer in the adoption of current 3-D technology and is a leader in alternative content programming from live sports to concerts to opera.

The transaction is entirely equity-funded by an investment consortium led by TowerBrook. Co-investors include Lambert Media and Charles B. Moss, Jr. Michael Lambert, Founding Partner of Lambert Media, who has extensive experience in the entertainment industry, partnered with TowerBrook earlier this year to identify and pursue investment opportunities in the media and entertainment sectors. Lambert introduced TowerBrook to Thomas W. Stephenson, Jr., Chief Executive Officer of Rave, and hecollaborated closely with TowerBrook on the execution of the joint NAI/RRC theater acquisitions. Mr. Moss, a seasoned investor and operator in the real estate and entertainment sectors, will serve as Chairman of Rave, and Mr. Lambert will serve as Vice Chairman. AGM Partners provided acquisition advice to the buyer group on the transaction.

Mr. Stephenson remarked, “It has been a great pleasure to work with our founding partner, BostonVentures, to build the Rave Motion Pictures brand into what it is today. We look forward to starting thenext chapter in our company’s history with our new partners at TowerBrook along with Michael Lambert and Charley Moss, while continuing to manage the Boston Ventures-owned theaters on their behalf.”

Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.