PE giants sell AMC Cinemas to China’s Wanda for $2.6b

Dalian Wanda Group will assume around $2 billion of AMC's debt, while Apollo and Bain are expected to receive an additional $500 million over an undisclosed period of time.

Together with J.P. Morgan's buyout arm, Apollo purchased AMC for an enterprise value of around $2 billion in 2004. The firm was then merged with Loews Cineplex Entertainment Corp, backed by Bain Capital, Carlyle Group and Spectrum Equity Investors, and had plans to IPO in 2008, but these were postponed until July 2010. AMC had been discussing a potential deal with Wanda since shortly after this latter filing.

The acquisition by Wanda could lead to more Chinese films being shown through AMC. The company is the second-largest cinema operator in North America, where $10.2 billion was spent on tickets last year. In China, meanwhile, box office revenues increased 35% to $2 billion in 2011, according to the Motion Picture Association of America, turning the country into the third-biggest market globally after the US and Japan.

Last week, News Corp purchased almost 20% of Chinese film distributor and cinema operator Bona Film Group. The company is 5.42%-owned by Sequoia Capital, which agreed to sell 1.5 million ordinary shares to founder Dong Yu for approximately $16.5 million last month. The shares picked up by News Corp were acquired from the founder.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Greater China
• Media
• Exits
• Consumer
• USA
• Trade sale
• Apollo Global Management
• Bain Capital Asia