After plotting an IPO that didn’t happen, Jérôme Seydoux’s venerable French studio Pathé is welcoming a new shareholder, Rodolphe Saadé, a French-Lebanese shipping billionaire who’s taken a 20% stake in the company through his family holding, Merit France.
Saadé also runs CMA CGM, the world’s third-largest container shipping company, which also recently nabbed 10% of France’s second biggest commercial network M6, and the daily newspaper La Provence, as well as has invested in Brut, the influential digital media publisher which became one of the main partners for the Cannes Film Festival.
Pathé just had a banner year with “The Count of Monte Cristo” which was 2024’s second biggest box office hit in France, and is at Cannes with the opening night movie, “Leaving One Day,” Amelie Bonnin’s feature debut, as well as Martin Bourboulon’s thriller “13 Days, 13 Nights.”
The company, headed by Ardavan Safaee, has been ramping up its output of ambitious movies tailored for theaters, as well as has opened premium venues in several locations. The company is behind France’s biggest cinema chain and also operates in Africa with plans to expand the scope of its activity there. Having Saadé’s holding on board will give them the financial muscle to keep financing big-budget films like “The Count of Monte Cristo” and “The Three Musketeers.” Pathé also has a three-year co-production and co-financing deal with Logical Pictures in place since 2023 to finance its pipeline and limit risk.
“In a rapidly changing macroeconomic and industrial environment that offers many opportunities, this transaction aims to give Pathé the means to accelerate its development, particularly in the production of films and series with an international focus, and in the modernisation of its cinema network to offer its customers a high-end and innovative experience unrivalled in Europe,” said Pathe and Saadé’s holding in a joint statement. Pathé declined to give financial details about the deal.
Seydoux said “The arrival of the Saadé family as a partner will accelerate Pathé’s development and modernisation.”
“It will also enable us to continue working with the talented people we value and to seek out those who share our ambitions and want to achieve international success,” Seydoux continued.
Saadé, meanwhile, described Pathé as a “leading brand for film lovers in France and around the world.”
“We are committed to contributing to the development of the sector and promoting French cinema culture worldwide,’ continued Saadé.
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