AMC Entertainment to Sell Off Baltic Theaters for $77 Million
AMC Entertainment is selling off nine of its Baltic theaters in a €65 million ($77 million) deal.
The company said Monday that it has signed a deal to sell nine venues across Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia — cinemas AMC took on as part of its $929 million acquisition of Nordic Cinema Group in 2017. UP Invest, owners of a Baltics cinema group, will acquire all nine cinemas.
AMC president and CEO Adam Aron said the Baltics agreement marks “yet another bold and decisive action taken, on the heels of our capital raising in April and debt restructuring and capital raising in July, to bolster our liquidity and strengthen our balance sheet at a transaction multiple that underscores the inherent value of our theatre portfolio and resilience of our business.”
Aron added, “We continue to be encouraged by attendance levels at theatres that have reopened in Europe, where essentially all theatres are open, and in the U.S., where almost 300 theatres are currently open for business.”
The executive said “growing consumer confidence” in AMC’s cleaning and safety protocols continue to generate increased attendance and food and beverage spend.
The agreement calls for AMC to receive approximately half of the sale proceeds on signing and the balance upon closing in each country after antitrust resolution in the coming months.
AMC’s financial viability has been called into question during the coronavirus crisis, which has crippled the business. The company recently renegotiated its sizable debt with a bond exchange, which it says will give it the liquidity it needs to stay in operation through the public health crisis. AMC Entertainment lost $561.2 million across its second quarter. Revenues at the company topped out at $18.9 million, down 98% from a year ago.
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