<article>Vietnamese entertainment company Galaxy Studio is putting the cinema operations up for sale and seeks to exit the business, according to an industry source familiar with the company.</article>

Vietnamese entertainment company Galaxy Studio is putting the cinema operations up for sale and seeks to exit the business, according to an industry source familiar with the company.
The source said Galaxy Studio, chaired by 56 year-old businesswoman Dinh Thi Hoa, was talking to private equity firms to mint $25 million from the sale. A negotiation with a well-established PE fund failed because the management team of Galaxy Cinema wanted to exit the business, while the fund wanted the founder to stay and run the company, the source added.
Galaxy did not comment on the issue, while its early investor <a style="color: #000080;" href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/tag/vietnam-investment-group/">Vietnam Investment Group</a> could not be reached.
At the end of 2016, Galaxy Cinema was the third largest operator in Vietnam with seven locations; it now has 10 locations across the country. The biggest players, CGV and Lotte Cinema, had 38 and 29 respectively.
Galaxy Cinema is a brand of Galaxy Studio, a film making and distribution firm which is a part of the Thien Ngan (Galaxy) Group.
Hoa founded Galaxy Group in 1994 as a media and communications services company and then expanded to the movie industry almost a decade later.
She earned tertiary degrees in Moscow State University and Harvard University, and had a stint working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam. Hoa’s current roles also include board member at Asia Commercial Bank and Refrigerator Electric Engineering JSC, and vice chairwoman at Thien Viet Securities.
Galaxy Cinema received an undisclosed amount of funding from Ho Chi Minh city-based private equity firm Vietnam Investment Group, which has recently funded another low-cost cinema chain called Beta Media, along with Hong Kong’s <a style="color: #000080;" href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/tag/blue-hk-investments/">Blue HK Investments</a>.
In 2013, Vietnamese media reports said that Golden Screen Cinemas, a unit of Malaysia’s PPB Group, acquired 25 per cent of Galaxy Studio for $20 million.
The Malaysian investor increased its holding to 40 per cent in 2016, saying it expected the business in Vietnam to double its profit contribution for the year compared to 2015.
Just recently, PPB Group said it is not winding up its cinema operations as Malaysia, Vietnam and Cambodia are still growing, according to Malaysian media.
Other than the cinema business, whose financial status is not disclosed, the film production branch of Galaxy Studio is thriving in Vietnam. It is the producer of a spate of local popular movies since 2004, earning up to VND52 billion ($2.3 million) revenue from a single product.
Also read:
<a style="color: #ff0000;" href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/blue-hk-vietnam-2-5m-funding-beta-media-78830/">Blue HK Investments strikes first Vietnam deal with $2.5m funding for Beta Media</a>

Galaxy Studio, chaired by 56 year-old businesswoman Dinh Thi Hoa, has been talking to private equity firms to mint $25 million from a sale.

Vietnam: Galaxy Studio seeks to earn $25m with cinema ops exit

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Vietnam: Galaxy Studio seeks to earn $25m with cinema ops exit

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