Party Props Latest Hollywood Realm to Lure Equity Money

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Private equity firms have bankrolled film slates and made other incursions in Hollywood. They have not bought up everything, but they may be getting close.


One Virginia-based private equity firm has bought a small piece of Hollywood business: one of its biggest party suppliers.


Charlottesville-based Quad-C Management has quietly acquired Classic Party Rentals Inc. of El Segundo, which provides the goods and support for party planners or corporate clients, including outdoor tents, china, glassware, carpeting, heaters, linens, tables and chairs.


Classic handles hundreds of events annually, including the Emmys, the Golden Globes and the Governors Ball gala after the Academy Awards.


“Now we have more financial wherewithal and capabilities; it eliminates the need to subcontract for things,” Classic’s Vice-President of Marketing Michael Milner said. “In Los Angeles, and in this season, that’s a dominant issue for us.”


The exact amount of the investment and other terms of the deal were not disclosed, but its impact became clear, as Classic the largest player nationwide in the party rental supply business quickly acquired two smaller rental-supply companies: Florida-based Panache Party Rentals and Buellton-based Parties a la Carte.


Quad-C typically undertakes long-term investments in profitable middle market companies valued between $50 million and $500 million. The company has a current fund of $850 million and approximately $2 billion in capital under management.


Quad-C is Classic’s fourth equity partner since 2004, when local private equity firm Hancock Park Associates made an investment of more than $5 million.


Classic regularly works with the studios and entertainment venues. The layouts and design of each studio and venue, including Paramount, Universal, Sony, Staples Center and Home Depot Center, are already uploaded in Classic’s Computer Aided Design system to make party preparation much easier.



Wax Factor

Merlin Entertainment’s $1.9 billion acquisition of famed wax museum company Madame Tussaud’s won’t slow down plans for Hollywood’s second wax palace.


Merlin is majority-owned by private equity group Blackstone and operates 38 attractions worldwide, including four Legolands, one of which is in San Diego County.


Blackstone representatives said the deal would keep Tussaud’s growth plans on track and could in fact speed up the opening of Hollywood’s second wax museum. Plans call for a $55 million, 40,000-square-foot Tussaud’s museum to be located on the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Orange Drive, where there is currently a parking lot directly west of the Mann Grauman’s Chinese Theater. The Hollywood Wax Museum has been at 6767 Hollywood Blvd. since 1965.


Pending city approval, work would start work this year and complete the museum by late 2008. To draw local customers to the attraction, Tussaud’s will spend about $1 million a year developing temporary exhibits based on current theatrical releases, in partnership with studios.



Club Music

Spaceland Productions, the managing company of the Los Angeles live music venues Spaceland, The Echo, Ex_Plx and other venues, has teamed up with marketing and production company Cykik to form an independent record label, Spaceland Recordings.


The label will specialize in recordings of live performances at Spaceland Productions events, such as Patrick Park’s live album track “Life Is a Song,” which was licensed for the series finale of Fox’s “The O.C.”


The Spaceland label will produce recordings in a variety of lengths made available to consumers through various delivery methods.



My Music

Music Plus TV, the online music video/concert station, has unveiled a revamped Web site featuring surprise! many components similar to those on MySpace.com.


Among the improvements are enhanced resolution that makes the pop-out, expandable Flash player easier on the eyes, a multiple file uploader and unlimited bandwidth enabling users to host content for MySpace pages, Facebook entries or blogs.


MusicPlusTV.com houses thousands of hours of shows, interviews, live performances, music and other video content, all of which can be integrated into any Web property as long as users do so via the branded MusicPlusTV video player.



Culture Cash

Bank of America will offer its cardholders free access to more than 80 cultural institutions through its national Museums on Us program.


The program has been run for a decade, but this is the first year that museums in California have been included; 26 throughout the state will participate.


In Los Angeles, Bank of America and MBNA cardholders (plus one guest) will be granted free admission throughout the month of May to the Autry National Center; the California African American Museum; The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens; the Japanese American National Museum; the Kidspace Museum and the Skirball Center.



Staff reporter Anne Riley-Katz can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 225, or at [email protected].

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