The deal follows last year’s acquisition of the leading cinema operator Finnkino by the Scandinavian media giant Bonnier and Swedish group Ratos that led to the creation of the Nordic region’s largest cinema group, or ‘Nordic Cinema Group’. Finnkino controls around 70% of Finnish cinemas and BioRex around 7%. The rest of the market is shared between the family businesses Kino City, Savon Kino Oy, Remamian/Reijo Aho and various independent operators and municipalities.
Set up 13 years ago by Matila and Röhr, BioRex cinemas combine 14 screens in four mid-size Finnish cities. Over the years, Matila and Röhr have developed the cinema chain, investing in new technologies to speed up the digitization of screens, while running in parallel their distribution and production activities. But the changing market and increased competition for film consumers’ time and money has put greater pressure on the two independent entrepreneurs. “We came to a point where we needed more resources, time and energy to take BioRex to the next step in order to make it a viable business,” notes Matila who continues: “I am very proud though to have built it into a healthy business. The cinema market in Finland still has room for growth, especially in the mid-town and smaller city centres.”
For Fornstam, the acquisition of BioRex is an opportunity to expand his cinema assets in the Nordic region. Today, Svenska Bio controls 114 screens in 31 Swedish venues and 10 screens in 2 Danish venues (including the 35% owned Empire cinema in Copenhagen) plus 14 screens in four Finnish cities. BioRex’s new CEO is Aku Jaakkola, the group’s former Business Manager. The future of BioRex’s distribution arm is still to be finalised according to Fornstam (see separate interview - click here.)
Commenting on the sale of BioRex to Svenska Bio, Harri Ahokas Head of Distribution at the Finnish Film Foundation said: “I would like to thank Marko Röhr and Ilkka Matila for what they did for the exhibition sector in Finland. Building cinemas of top quality in smaller cities like Kajaani, Hämeenlinna and Porvoo showed us there is a lot of potential in the Finnish regions. While building their cinema chain, Marko and Ilkka kept on producing ambitious films. These are men dedicated to quality.”
The two entrepreneurs are now fully concentrating on film production via their 100% owned Matila Röhr Productions. Current projects include The Rasberry Boat Refugee directed by Leif Lindblom starring Jonas Karlsson and Josephine Bornebuscha and Tale of a Lake, the follow up to the successful Finnish documentary film Tale of a Forest that sold more than 80,000 tickets in 2013.