• UOKiK gave consent to Multikino taking over Cinema 3D.
• The transaction may take place provided that the cinema of the acquired company will be sold in Galeria Morena in Gdańsk.

The parties to the transaction are cinema operators. Multikino runs 32 cinemas in 27 towns and cities, while Cinema 3D owns 12 cinemas in 12 cities.

Having analysed the application, the Office referred the takeover to the second stage of proceedings. It was necessary to conduct a market research in Warsaw, Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot, where business activity of both enterprises overlap. The analysis results showed a threat to competition, which is why the Office voiced reservations about the concentration.

Our investigation has shown that consent to concentration would mean a restriction of competition. We could, however, give conditional consent. We decided that the sale of Cinema 3D in Galeria Morena would nonetheless give consumers from Gdańsk the freedom to choose where they want to watch a film, says the President of UOKiK, Marek Niechciał.

The buyer must be accepted by UOKiK. It cannot belong to the same capital group as Multikino does and will have to have sufficient financial resources, knowledge and experience to run a movie theatre complex. The purchase agreement must contain a clause which will guarantee that the investor will conduct cinema operations until 2026. In addition, Multikino will have to submit a report on the fulfilment of this condition to the Office.

How the UOKiK defined the market

In any merger control case, the key issue is to identify markets where the parties to the transaction operate and compete. As for cinemas, UOKiK found that cinema complexes constitute a separate market from repertory cinemas. The former are located mainly in shopping centres and offer a more diverse film repertoire.

According to the Office, an area within which multiplex cinemas compete for viewers is outlined by a radius equal to a 30-minute car drive on public roads. This is the maximum distance consumers are willing to cover to watch a film.

Pursuant to legal regulations, such a transaction must be reported to UOKiK if it involves enterprises with total turnover for the previous year that exceeded EUR 1 billion in the world or EUR 50 million in Poland. When analysing the concentration, the President of the Office may prohibit the transaction, give consent to it or make its consent conditional on an enterprise fulfilling additional conditions. Decisions are valid for two years. Since 2004, this has been the 28th decision imposing obligations on the applicant in total and the third issued this year.

This decision is not final. The applicant may appeal to the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection. At the same time we would like to inform that the UOKiK website provides information on all antitrust proceedings regarding concentration conducted by the Office.

Additional information for the media:

UOKiK Press Office
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa, Poland
Phone +48 695 902 088, +48 22 55 60 246
E-mail: [SCODE]Yml1cm9wcmFzb3dlQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]
Twitter: @UOKiKgovPL