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Wanda Group, a Chinese company also known as the Dalian Wanda Group, reportedly sold almost all of its stakes in AMC Entertainment, an American movie theater chain. With the sale, it marked billionaire and founder of the company, Wang Jianlin’s retreat from his Hollywood ambitions.
Wanda’s decision to off-load its AMC shares
As per Forbes, Wanda Group gave up its AMC Entertainment shares with a value reaching around $426.9 million and the sale was done last week. At this point, the Chinese firm only owns 0.002% now, as shown in the regulatory filing.
Wanda Group was said to have held a controlling stake in AMC since it signed a deal worth $2.6 billion in 2012. In that year, it was the biggest foreign acquisition by a privately-held Chinese firm. The Beijing-headquartered company started paring its stake in the Kansas-based movie theater chain that is also the largest movie theater chain on the planet.
In any case, it was said that AMC held exploratory talks with the special purpose acquisition companies or SPACs and the discussion was for the possibility for IPO. It was mentioned that the talk is still in the very early stage and according to insiders, this may not lead to a deal.
Moreover, AMC sold a total of 15.6 shares for $220 million in 2018 and in March this year, but sources insist the company is not in financial trouble. In fact, they said it is still very profitable and has plenty of funds on hand.
AMC shows gratitude as Wanda gives up its stakes
Despite the sale of its stakes, AMC remained grateful to Wanda. The company issued a statement regarding Wanda’s decision to pull out from its board and described the Chinese firm as “AMC’s best shareholder.”
“Wanda has been a terrific shareholder of AMC for almost a decade. Under their ownership, AMC became the biggest movie theater operator in the world,” Adam Aron, AMC’s chief executive officer and president, said in a press release. “Importantly, Wanda also has supported our reinvestment of billions of dollars to upgrade and enhance our network of theatres for the benefit of moviegoers throughout the United States, Europe and the Middle East, and I salute Wanda for the immensely constructive role they played in building our company, and want to express my sincerest appreciation and affection for their wise counsel and friendship.”
