Germany's Kinowelt Medien has withdrawn its listing on the Neuer Markt as of Feb 22 and will transfer its stock to the Regulated Market from Feb 25.

Brothers Michael and Rainer Koelmel and the provisional insolvency administrator Dr. Wolfgang Ott decided on the change to the "more suitable segment" of the Regulated Market in the light of "the present situation on the capital markets and the current position of the company".

According to Kinowelt, the transfer will mean that the company can cut many costs incurred as part of a Neuer Markt listing such as the obligations to extensive compulsory disclosures, the need for two Designated Sponsors and the special information requirements made by the Neuer Markt.

This step comes less than a week after Kinowelt offloaded its interest in the video-on-demand operator media[netCom] (Screen Daily, Jan 24 2002), and analysts of the Sal. Oppenheim Bank put Euros 0 (Nil) as a "fair value" for Kinowelt's shares.

Meanwhile, Kinowelt's theatrical arm has announced that it will release Josef Fares' Jalla! Jalla! on March 7 after the now defunct Arthaus Filmverleih had originally planned to launch the film into German cinemas last September.