Film sold for $750 million

The

is to sell Deluxe Film, its film processing and creative services business, to DX III Holdings Corporation, a subsidiary of MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings, for $750 million.

The proceeds of the sale will initially be used to reduce corporate borrowings.

The sale is conditional, amongst other things, upon obtaining clearances from the US, Canadian and Spanish anti-trust authorities and the approval of Rank shareholders at an Extraordinary General Meeting, to be held on Monday, 16 January 2006.

The Deluxe businesses, Deluxe Film and Deluxe Media Services have been important parts of Rank, but in recent years the company has acknowledged that they did not fit with the company’s other activities. In September 2004, the company decided to separate both Deluxe Film and Deluxe Media from the rest of Rank.

Deluxe Film is a supplier of products and services to the motion picture industry. Deluxe Film’s activities are organised into two complementary activities, film processing and creative services. For the year ended 31 December 2004, the division generated profits before interest and taxation of £52.9 million on sales of £366.0 million.