Chinese media conglomerate Dalian Wanda has completed its $2.6 billion acquisition of AMC Entertainment, the second largest theater chain in the United States, the companies announced on Tuesday.
Wanda, one of the largest exhibitors in China, announced its acquisition in May and said it would retain AMC’s management team.
“We are very pleased to have completed the acquisition of AMC and begin this new chapter in Wanda’s international development,” Wang Jialin, chairman and president of Wanda, said in a statement.
“We now look forward to working with AMC’s CEO Gerry Lopez and his team to invest in and build on the company’s widely-recognized brand and the incomparable entertainment experience AMC offers to its millions of customers.”
AMC had been owned since 2004 by an investment group that includes the Apollo Investment Fund, J. P. Morgan Partners, Bain Capital Investors, the Carlyle Group and others.
AMC will continue to manage film programming and maintain its headquarters in Kansas City. The deal combines AMC’s 338 theaters and 4,865 screens with Wanda’s 94 theaters and 805 screens.
“All of us at AMC are thrilled about our future with Wanda,” Lopez said in a statement. “We are enthusiastic about combining AMC’s leadership in the U.S. with Wanda’s leadership in China, the world’s fastest-growing market. We strongly believe in our shared common interests in advancing the movie industry and we feel this partnership creates one of the world’s premier location-based entertainment companies.”
