AMC Hits Pause on Acquisition of Some Cineworld Theaters
AMC Entertainment president and CEO Adam Aron explains the new class of securities and the complexities of its AMC preferred equity transaction on ‘The Claman Countdown.’
AMC Entertainment said Wednesday in a regulatory filing that discussions it had with certain Cineworld lenders about potentially buying some of the rival movie chain’s theaters “are not continuing” at this time.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMC | AMC ENTERTAINMENT | 5.30 | +0.22 | +4.33% |
| APE | AMC ENTERTAINMENT | 0.69 | +0.01 | +1.59% |
The world’s largest cinema chain said in the Securities and Exchange Commission filing that possibly buying some Cineworld theaters in the U.S. and Europe was the focus of the talks. Cineworld, the U.K. parent company of Regal Cinemas that filed for bankruptcy in September, has over 9,100 screens and operates in numerous countries.
REGAL CINEMAS PARENT CINEWORLD FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY
Financing would have partly come from AMC issuing APEs and the lenders providing debt financing, according to the filing. In August, the company issued APE preferred equity units as a special dividend, with them having since started trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
AMC operates 10,500 screens in roughly 940 theaters around the world. (iStock / iStock)
The movie theater chain said in the Wednesday filing that a “definitive agreement with the Lenders has not been reached regarding the terms of any proposal to be presented to the debtors in the Cineworld cases, and at this time negotiations are not continuing.”
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“While AMC reserves the right to continue to explore the acquisition of value enhancing strategic assets, there can be no assurance that AMC will resume any discussions with the Lenders or, if it were to do so, that it would be able to agree with Lenders or any other party as to the terms of a mutually acceptable proposal,” the company continued in the filing.
The AMC Empire 25 theater in Times Square in New York, May 13, 2020. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File / AP Newsroom)
The AMC Burbank 16 movie theater complex, April 29, 2020, in Burbank, California. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File / AP Newsroom)
When Cineworld filed for bankruptcy in September, CEO Mooky Greidinger said the COVID-19 pandemic “was an incredibly difficult time for our business, with the enforced closure of cinemas and huge disruption to film schedules that has led us to this point.” The movie theater chain, in the press release announcing its Chapter 11 filing, said it expected its global business to operate “as usual” while undergoing the reorganization process.
AMC CEO REACTS TO CINEWORLD BANKRUPTCY
AMC operates 10,500 screens in roughly 940 theaters around the world. In November, it reported $968.4 million in third-quarter revenues, a nearly 27% increase for the same period in 2021 when it generated $763.1 million. Its net loss widened slightly from $224.2 million to $226.9 million.
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