British private equity executive Guy Hands has been granted more time to sell Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group after investors agreed to extend the life of his €2.1 billion ($2.4 billion) fund that owns the company by a year.

The extension of the 10-year buyout fund, which Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd. raised in 2004 and which has been extended twice already, means Hands and his team are no longer under pressure to sell its assets by March 2016. That may strengthen Terra Firma's bargaining position in talks with potential buyers of Odeon & UCI and two other companies still owned by the fund. Revenue at the cinema chain fell to £657 million ($1 billion) in 2014 from £707 million in 2013.