Vue's second CinemaxX MD quits; Carsten Horn takes top role

Christoph Ahmadi, managing director of Vue-owned CinemaxX Holdings, is to step down and leave the group “to pursue his own interests in a new venture”.

It follows the departure of CinemaxX’s other MD, Christian Gisy, who left the group after nearly eight years on August 31.

Ahmadi, who was also chief sales and marketing officer of CinemaxX, had assumed overall responsibility for the company following Gisy’s departure.

The latest move comes as Carsten Horn takes the managing director role at the exhibitor, which operates 33 cinemas with 285 screens in Germany and Denmark.

Horn was previously MD of Tchibo’s 700 coffee and retail stores across Germany and the 210 stores owned and operated by flower retailer Blume 2000. Before that, he was a regional sales director at home improvement retail chain Max Bahr.

Ahmadi joined the board of CinemaxX in November 2012 and contributed in the transition from a listed company to private ownership by Vue, in particular the development of a new joint venture in cinema marketing and advertising and re-positioning the CinemaxX brand.

Tim Richards, founder and CEO of Vue Entertainment International, said the Horn’s appointment came “as we seek to develop new services at our existing cinemas and expand in new markets across Europe”.

Horn said: “Since leaving Tchibo last year I have been searching for the right company that would give me the opportunity to utilise the skills and experience I have developed across a wide range of Retail businesses over many years.

“The right company has to have the right culture, great people, world class assets and an appetite for the future, Vue Group ticks all these boxes and I can’t wait to meet everyone at CinemaxX in Germany and Denmark and get started.”

Horn starts his new position on Feb and will work with Ahmadi during a transition period until March.

Ahmadi said he was “looking forward to dedicating myself completely to my new project”.

Vue, created in 2003, has been involved in major acquisitions in the exhibition space over the past few years.

After the acquisition of Apollo Cinemas in May 2012, the takeover of CinemaxX [Germany and Denmark] in July 2012, the acquisition of Multikino [Poland, Latvia and Lithuania] in August 2013, followed up most recently of the Space Cinemas in Italy in November 2014, VEI Group now operates 1,733 screens at 187 multiplex cinemas in nine countries: the UK, Ireland, Germany, Denmark, Italy, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Taiwan.