PE firm Warburg buys $121 million stake in Indian cinema operator PVR

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Affiliates of private equity firm Warburg Pincus have bought a 14 percent stake in India's largest multiplex chain PVR Ltd for 8.2 billion rupees ($120.5 million), PVR said on Wednesday.

Warburg bought the stake from affiliates of private equity firm Multiples Alternate Asset Management and PVR's founders, India's biggest cinema chain operator said in a statement.

Multiples Alternate Asset will continue to hold a 14 percent stake in PVR, while PVR's founders will remain the biggest shareholders with a more than 20 percent stake, it said.

Shares of PVR, which currently operates 562 screens across 48 cities, closed at a record high after earlier rising as much as 7.7 percent, in a broader Mumbai market that gained 0.2 percent.

($1 = 68.0450 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Sankalp Phartiyal; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath)