Vue, one of the UK's biggest cinema chains, was sold by stake-holders including Boston Ventures, Clarity Partners and Legal & General Ventures. They had bought it for £210m in 2003. The buyout is being backed by HBOS.

The Vue cinema at Liffey Valley is ranked among the top 10 busiest cinemas in Britain and Ireland. Last year it had 1.4 million visits.

A spokesman for Vue Entertainment said last week there are no plans to sell the Liffey Valley cinema, which was acquired by the group from South African group Ster Century, whose shareholders were Primedia and Kersaf.

The company was acquired by private equity company Inflexion for over 24m in 2003, so the sale represented an embarrassing exit for the owners. It had been thought the Liffey Valley multiplex alone would be worth 20m at the time.

The Vue spokesman said the cinema will remain part of the group for the foreseeable future. He also said the expansion of Vue Entertainment's cinema base will focus on the UK. It currently has 55 cinemas with 544 screens.