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EFA Partners Advises Emagine Entertainment for Arranging New Capital to Refinance Debt and for Growth

November 1, 2022

New York, NY (November 1, 2022) – EFA Partners, a financial advisory firm that arranges capital and provides strategic consulting services for entertainment and media companies, announced that it arranged financing for Emagine Entertainment, an owner/operator of luxury movie theaters in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Emagine operates a total of 28 theaters with over 340 screens and is ranked as the 9th largest theater circuit in North America according to the 2022 Giants of Exhibition report from Box Office Pro. The financing arranged by EFA refinanced all existing senior debt and also provided additional funding for new growth opportunities.

Emagine was co-founded by Paul Glantz in 1997 with the opening of its theater in Birch Run, Michigan and has since continued to grow its portfolio. All Emagine theaters offer adult patrons the option of enjoying their favorite cocktail, beer or wine while concurrently maintaining a welcoming environment for families. Emagine’s leadership team is dedicated to maintaining the highest standard of customer service and providing their guests with the best possible movie-going experience.

The company is a recognized innovator in the theater industry. Emagine was the first U.S. theater circuit to convert to 100% digital projection. Its Birch Run theater was the first in Michigan to have all stadium seating and Emagine was the first to introduce 4K projection to the Detroit market. In 2022, it continued as an innovative leader by partnering with Caesars Entertainment to create the Caesars Sportsbook Lounge Powered by Emagine. 

“We have thoroughly enjoyed working with the Emagine team for many years,” said Ralph Willis, Managing Partner and founding principal of EFA Partners. “The company operates a luxury, state-of-the-art theater circuit that delivers an exceptional experience for its loyal patrons. The new debt facility positions Emagine for continued growth as the company expands its platform of theaters."

EFA’s principals have over 70 years of collective experience in providing financing solutions for entertainment, media, and technology companies. They have deep relationships with banks, equipment lessors, construction lenders, specialty finance lenders, REITs, and private equity groups. The team prides itself on handling its clients’ financing processes from start to finish. For Emagine, EFA approached a targeted list of prospective financiers, completed comprehensive materials to highlight the attractiveness of Emagine’s theaters, created additional materials with significant current and historical data to highlight the ongoing rebound of the film exhibition industry, introduced several financial groups to the Emagine team, procured competing proposals, and assisted throughout the closing process.

“It has been such a pleasure working with Ralph and the EFA team as our trusted financial advisors for the past several years and we look forward to continuing the relationship,” said Paul Glantz, Chairman of Emagine. “They stuck with us through the pandemic and then, as the lending environment became more favorable this year, they used their defined process to highlight the attractiveness of our business for several lenders. This culminated in closing a financing that not only refinanced our debt with very favorable terms but also provided additional capital to assist with growing our business as we seek to strategically add theaters to our circuit.”

About EFA Partners

EFA Partners is a boutique financial advisory firm with offices in New York and Atlanta focused on the entertainment, media, and technology companies. It provides investment banking services focused on arranging growth capital, mergers and acquisitions, and financial consulting. In entertainment, its targeted sectors include movie theaters, family entertainment centers, theme parks, water parks, concert venues, hotels, casinos, observation wheels, sports, and others. In media and technology, EFA focuses on companies in film/television post-production, film/television distribution, communications services, SaaS, recorded music, music publishing, and others. Since its inception in 2009, EFA has been retained by over 190 clients, has arranged over $1.6 billion of capital, and has advised on over $3.6 billion of additional capital. 

Leading provider of digital media services for film and television

Background: A seasoned management team who had previously worked with EFA while at their previous companies, formed a new film and television digital media services company and approached EFA to arrange financing for potential acquisition targets.

EFA Process: The company retained EFA to arrange acquisition financing.  EFA ran the process including creating presentation materials and then approaching several banks and specialty lenders.

Result: Three closings including two financings to support two acquisitions and financing to provide working capital.

start quoteWe selected EFA as our advisor due to their financial experience specific to the film and television services sector. The past year has been tremendous for us as we significantly grew our business with EFA arranging financing that allowed us to execute on our growth plans very quickly. end quote

John Suh
Co-Founder and Co-President of  Pixelogic

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                                                      Top ten film exhibitor in the U.S. based on screen count with 16 theaters across the Midwest

Background: Approached EFA to arrange financing, to refinance existing debt, and for growth of the business. Also engaged EFA to arrange a sale of the business.

EFA Process: EFA ran the process for all three assignments including preparing presentation materials and creating data rooms to manage the processes. For the debt process, approached several banks, specialty lenders, and REITs. For the sale process, approached strategic film exhibitors, private equity groups, and family offices.

Result: Three closings including a debt facility to refinance all existing senior debt, another debt facility to refinance existing debt as well as provide additional funds to acquire real estate at certain theaters, and then arranged the sale of operations to Kinepolis, a Belgium-based film exhibitor expanding its U.S. platform. 

start quoteThe EFA team has been our trusted financial advisor for the past several years. They have assisted us for a variety of assignments over the years including the refinancing of our debt, reviewing acquisition opportunities, and now the sale of our operations which, when closed, will provide an excellent outcome for our investors.end quote

Paul Glantz
Chairman of Emagine

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2nd largest U.S. operator of karting-based entertainment venues with 11 venues in the East and Midwest

Background: Approached EFA to arrange financing to refinance existing debt and for growth of the business. Also engaged EFA to arrange a sale of the business.

EFA Process: EFA ran the process for both assignments which included preparing presentation materials and creating data rooms to manage the processes. For the debt process, EFA approached several banks, specialty lenders, equipment financiers, and REITs. For the sale process, EFA approached strategic entertainment companies, private equity groups, and family offices.

Result: Three closings including a debt facility to refinance all existing senior debt and to provide growth capital which the company utilized to renovate and expand certain sites. Then arranged the sale of operations to K1 Speed, the largest U.S. operator of karting-based entertainment venues. K1 subsequently also acquired the real estate at one venue.

start quoteIt has been a pleasure working with Ralph Willis and the EFA team for the past several years. EFA was previously our advisor and successfully arranged our senior debt. Their understanding of the leisure sector and their industry relationships made them the logical choice to lead our sale effort which culminated in closing the sale to K1. end quote

Michael Greene
CFO and founding principal of Autobahn

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Television and motion picture post-production and digital content management services

Background: Company approached EFA seeking refinancing of its debt subsequent to other advisors attempting to do so with a combination of senior debt and equity.

EFA Process: After reviewing its capital structure EFA recommended a debt structure to fully refinance the company's debt.

Result: Closed senior debt facility that refinanced the company's existing debt, which was much more cost-effective than equity.

start quoteThe EFA team proposed a creative strategy to recapitalize Modern VideoFilm that met our needs in a way that was unique and different from what other financial advisory firms proposed to us. We appreciated their understanding of the entertainment industry and EFA's extensive financial relationships and we look forward to continuing our relationship. end quote

Moshe Barkat,
CEO and President of Modern VideoFilm

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                                                                              Operator of dine-in cinemas across the U.S.

Background: EFA has been engaged by Alamo corporate and several franchisees over several years for various assignments. These included  arranging construction financing for new venues and running the sale process for various theaters.

EFA Process: EFA ran the process for several assignments which included preparing presentation materials and creating data rooms to manage the processes. For the debt process, EFA approached several banks, specialty lenders, and equipment financiers. For the sale process, EFA approached strategic entertainment companies and private equity groups.

Result: Arranged construction and equipment financing for theaters in Texas, Colorado, and New York. In addition, served as sell-side advisor for two different franchisees and arranged the sale of seven theaters to two different film exhibitors.

start quoteEFA Partners and our team worked uniformly every step of the way to arrange a comprehensive financing solution that delivers greater financial flexibility to our two existing venues while also providing the necessary capital to build our newest Denver location. Brandt Gully, Ralph Willis and the EFA team have a deep understanding of the film exhibition industry and have proven to be reliable long-term partners as we continue pursuing our goals for sustained long-term growth.end quote

Dave Kennedy
Partner at Alamo Drafthouse

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 Waterpark in Houston owned by WP Ventures 

 

Background: Approached EFA to arrange financing to refinance existing debt and to finance a new attracion at the venue.

EFA Process: EFA ran the process which included preparing presentation materials and creating data rooms to manage the process. EFA approached several banks, specialty lenders, and REITs. 

Result: Arranged the financing with a bank at a very attractive rate that provided funding to refinance all exisiting senior debt and to provide funds for a new children's waterpark area.

start quoteIt was great working with Ralph Willis and the EFA team as they led our process to arrange financing. Their many years of experience in the leisure sector, plus their extensive relationships with financiers, allowed them to convey the highlights of our park and garnered interest from several financial groups. That provided for a competitive process to negotiate favorable financing terms to meet our financing needs. end quote

Terry Hlavinka
Partner at WP Ventures

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Television industry management group formed to manage and operate US TV stations

Background: Huntington approached EFA seeking capital for potential television station acquisitions.

EFA Process: EFA understood that private equity firms and lenders are seeking experienced management teams to back for acquisition opportunities in the television sector.

Result: EFA has introduced the company to several private equity firms as well as senior lenders, resulting in bids for groups of television stations and the company continues to seek other opportunities, with EFA’s assistance.

start quoteWe are acutely aware of the trends that are transforming the local broadcast TV business and have recently begun to explore opportunities to acquire stations. We are very excited about the prospects for the industry and the opportunities to capitalize upon. We are also pleased to have EFA Partners as our financial advisor as their many years of media industry experience and extensive financial relationships will help us accomplish our goal of building a best-in-class station group.

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David Tynan,
CEO of Huntington Broadcast Management Group

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