August 2004: Cineplex Galaxy president and CEO Ellis Jacob gets wind of the potential sale of Viacom’s Famous Players theater assets. He goes down to meet with Viacom in New York as a representative of parent company Onex Corporation. Viacom says it is considering the sale, but requires two things from a potential buyer: ‘Certainty and cash’

October: Jacob goes to Ottawa to begin discussions with the Competition Bureau about the potential acquisition

December: Viacom chair and CEO Sumner Redstone announces plans to split Viacom in two

January 2005: The official book of sale comes out describing the Viacom assets up on the auction block

February: Viacom posts a staggering $18.4-billion loss from the last quarter of 2004, after taking a $1-billion write-down on its troubled radio and outdoor advertising businesses. It’s the fifth-largest quarterly loss in American business history.

Cineplex Galaxy goes through the first round of bidding against a number of large financial players. ‘[Executives at Viacom] were concerned that we’d never get to the finish line with the government [regarding competition concerns],’ Jacob admits in retrospect. As a result, Cineplex is put on the back burner for round two of the bidding process

May: The Competition Bureau gives Cineplex Galaxy the green light for the acquisition of Famous Players, contingent on the divestiture of 34 theaters across overlapping markets throughout Canada, accounting for $80 million to $100 million in annual box-office revenue. Combined with a downturn in North American box office that drives away several other bidders, the momentum shifts back in Cineplex’s favor

June 13: Cineplex Galaxy publicly announces that it has purchased Famous Players for $500 million. The deal gives it 167 theaters and more than 1,400 screens across Canada prior to divestiture. The deal money is leveraged through a combination of publicly offered trust units and $105 million worth of debentures totaling approximately $205 million. The balance of the purchase price is obtained through debt financing, of which $67 million will be repaid through a previously announced real estate deal involving four theaters with RioCan ­- Real Estate Investment Trust

June 20: Gaston Jorré, the Competition Bureau’s acting commissioner, says in a statement that ‘Our goal is to ensure that consumers continue to benefit from competitive prices and choice in the exhibition of first-run motion pictures.’ He goes on to explain that ‘It is essential that these [34] theaters be sold off to ensure that this merger does not result in a substantial prevention or lessening of competition’

Aug. 22: Exhibitor Empire Theatres, based in Stellarton, NS, buys 27 of the 34 theaters, spanning from B.C. to Ontario. The acquisition, valued at $83 million, gives Empire 53 theaters and 403 screens, making it the second-largest exhibitor in Canada

Nov. 1: Cineplex Entertainment, as the newly expanded company is now called, buys Famous Players Media, the advertising and publishing wing of its former rival, which comprises the magazines Famous, le Magazine Famous Quebec and Famous Kids, and merges it with its own sales division to form Cineplex Media. It will be led by former FPMer Salah Bachir

Dec. 5: Several transactions are pending, including the required divestiture of seven theaters in Quebec. Cineplex also has plans to sell three Alliance Atlantis cinemas jointly owned by Cineplex and Motion Picture Distribution LP, half-owned by AA.

The consolidation of Cineplex and Famous Players operations reduces the combined administrative teams by 35%. The opening of at least seven new theaters is planned for the remainder of this year and the next, including the Dec. 7, 2005 launch of a complex under the Cineplex Odeon banner in Aurora, ON.