From Cinema Majestic in Harelbeke to
an international movie theatre Group

Keynote by Eddy Duquenne (CEO Kinepolis)

End 1960s, Albert Bert expanded his cinema in Harelbeke to a complex with a second movie theater. From here the concept was further developed in other cities: trioscoop, pentascoop, decascoop and finally in 1988 Kinepolis in Brussels, with its 25 movie theaters the biggest worldwide movie complex at that moment. After a merger from the two family-run cinema groups Bert – Claeys, Kinepolis Group was founded in 1997.

Recently Kinepolis group acquired the second largest Canadian movie theatre chain Landmark Cinemas and the American group MJR. Nowadays Kinepolis Group operates 110 movie theatres in Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Spain, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Poland, Canada and USA. Kinepolis is not only well known for its innovative cinema business, the group is also active in film distribution, event organization, screen publicity and property management.

During his keynote, CEO Eddy Duquenne will share his experiences concerning the acquisition of MJR and Landmark. Whilst elaborating on the future of movie theatres and customer’s changing behaviour, he will look to the future of Kinepolis Group, related to M&A. Finally, Mr Duquenne will share his personal learnings in M&A. A panel of experts with a.o. Christel Van den Eynden (Partner Liedekerke) moderated by Marc Cosaert (EY), will comment and debate. A networking reception will close the evening.