Cinema chain Odeon’s owner AMC reels in Nordic Cinemas Group in $929m deal
The company which admits millions of popcorn-crunching cinema attendees at Odeon across the UK has snapped up Nordic Cinemas Group for close to $1bn.
AMC Entertainment, which owns the UK movie theatre chain Odeon, paid $929m (£743m) in an all-cash deal to gain control of Nordic Cinemas Group, which has stakes in picture houses in seven countries.
Freezing temperatures must be pushing the Scandi hordes to watch the latest releases on the big screen as AMC hailed Nordic's high profit margins and number one market share in several of its territories.
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The purchase, from private equity firm Bridgepoint and Swedish company Bonnier, adds another 68 cinemas and 463 screens to the Odeon estate – a subsidiary of AMC which is itself owned by Chinese conglomerate Wanda.
Wanda-controlled AMC snapped up Odeon from from Guy Hands' private equity firm Terra Firma for £921m in November last year.
The deal will need to clear antitrust hurdles from the European Commission, which is expected to be received in the first half of 2017.
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AMC's top brass gave the deal a five star review.
“For the third time in the past 12 months, we believe we have discovered a substantial acquisition that gives AMC yet another opportunity to further expand and diversify our geographic reach and more firmly establish AMC as the undisputed leader in movie exhibition worldwide,” said AMC chief executive Adam Aron.