Cinema: The Saadé family acquires a 20% stake in Pathé

After the media, cinema. The Saadé family is acquiring a 20% stake in Pathé via its holding company, Merit France, the leader in film production and cinema exhibition in Europe and Africa, announced on Monday, May 12.

"In a rapidly changing macroeconomic and industrial environment, which offers opportunities, this operation aims to give Pathé the means to accelerate its development, particularly in the production of films and series with an international appeal, and in the modernization of its cinema network," Pathé explained in a press release.

For its president, Jérôme Seydoux, "the arrival of the Saadé family as a partner will accelerate the development and modernization of Pathé, it will also allow us to continue working with the talents to whom we are attached and to seek out those who share our ambitions and wish for international success" , quotes the press release.

The Saadé family is above all CMA-CGM, a maritime transport company and the world's third largest shipowner, whose CEO, Rodolphe Saadé, bought La Provence. in 2022, the Tribune in 2023, then BFM-RMC the following year.

With Pathé's investment in the capital, the latter aims to "contribute to the development of the sector and promote French cinematographic culture throughout the world" .

Before this announcement, the group led by 90-year-old Jérôme Seydoux had considered other options, including an IPO in 2024, to recover from the Covid years, which had severely penalized movie theaters.

A merger with rival UGC was even discussed at one point, but never took place. "We proposed a merger with UGC in 2021 because we are very complementary and in the future, we will need to be bigger to have the capacity to develop over the long term," Jérôme Seydoux declared at the time.

The arrival of the Franco-Lebanese billionaire's family in Pathé's capital comes on the eve of the opening of the 78th Cannes Film Festival, where Pathé will be represented through the opening film Partir un jour, which it produced, as well as 13 Days, 13 Nights by Martin Bourboulon with Roschdy Zem, presented out of competition at the end of the festival.

In addition to owning 130 cinemas with a total of 1,316 screens, Pathé is above all a major film producer. A major player in the French cinema market, the group is banking on French-style blockbusters such as The Count of Monte Cristo , a success in 2024 with 9.4 million admissions.