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EFA in the News
EFA Partners Advises UEC Theatres to Arrange a Bank Facility to Refinance Existing Debt
September 15, 2025
New York, NY (September 15, 2025) – EFA Partners, a financial advisory firm that arranges capital and provides strategic consulting services for entertainment and media companies, announced that it assisted with arranging senior bank debt for United Entertainment Corp. (“UEC”), a leading movie theater owner/operator with 22 theaters in 11 states across the U.S. UEC has over 190 screens making it the 20th largest circuit in the U.S. based on screen count. The new bank facility, provided by one of the company’s existing lenders, has very favorable terms and refinanced the senior debt at various theaters for which UEC owned the properties and building.
UEC opened its first theater in Bedford, Indiana in 1997. Since that time, the company has steadily grown its portfolio of theaters and has continued to upgrade its theaters with new amenities including recliner seating and PLF screens. The company’s path to success has been to identify niche locations where it could be the primary theater operator in the market. That strategy has proven to be very effective and company management prides itself on not having to close any of their theaters since they were first opened.
“We’ve known the team at UEC for many years, and it was wonderful to finally have the opportunity to work with them,” said Brandt Gully, Managing Partner and founding principal of EFA Partners. “We ran our process of presenting this opportunity to many lenders in the market, and ultimately this prompted one of the incumbent banks to do the deal and expand its relationship with UEC rather than lose the business.”
EFA’s principals have over 70 years of collective experience in providing financing solutions for entertainment and media 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’ financial processes from start to finish. For UEC, EFA approached a targeted list of prospective financiers, completed comprehensive materials to highlight the attractiveness of UEC’s theaters, and advised the company during its decision-making process.
“Closing a bank financing is not easy for film exhibitors in today’s market, but EFA’s knowledge of the industry and its process led to interest from several lenders that saw the value in our company,” said Mike Ross, co-founder, President and CEO of UEC. “This resulted in one of our existing banks stepping up and providing very competitive terms.”
About EFA Partners
EFA Partners is a boutique financial advisory firm with offices in New York and Atlanta focused on 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, waterparks, concert venues, hotels, casinos, sports, and others. In media and technology, EFA focuses on companies in film/television post-production, film/television distribution, recorded music, music publishing, and others. Since its inception in 2009, EFA has been retained by over 200 clients, has arranged over $1.8 billion of capital, and has advised on nearly $4 billion of additional capital.
