The deal is done. Just before Christmas, multibillionaire Ron Perelman bought Deluxe from the Rank Group of the United Kingdom for $750 million. The purchase was made by MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings, Perelman’s private investment unit which also has a 96-percent interest in Panavsion, along with controlling interest in cosmetics giant Revlon and a diversified portfolio of companies.Deluxe is the world’s biggest processor of 35mm film for the motion picture industry and the world’s biggest physical distributor of release and trailer prints for motion pictures. Deluxe also owns EFilm, one of the world’s leading digital postproduction houses. It has operations in Hollywood, London, Toronto, Barcelona and Rome.Deluxe’s present management team, led by Cyril Drabinsky will continue to run Deluxe’s day-to-day operations. The deal is expected to close in early 2006, after approval is obtained from Rank’s shareholders and other regulatory approvals occur. By purchasing Deluxe, Perelman regains control of EFilm, which Panavision sold last year to the film processor. Perelman’s investment career was catapulted when he purchased Deluxe rival Technicolor in the early 1980s, putting up $2 million of his own money and borrowing the rest. He later sold Technicolor for a $625 million profit.
Written by Jack Egan
