Knoxville, Tennessee-based Regal Entertainment Group is being bought out for $3.6 billion by the U.K.’s Cineworld movie-theater chain, Variety reported Tuesday, amounting to a $23-per-share payout to stockholders.
“Because of the size of the transaction, and the relative sizes of Cineworld and Regal, the acquisition has been classified as a reverse takeover,” Variety said. “It is subject to approval by Cineworld shareholders, who will be notified of a meeting and given more details on the merger next month.”
The Financial Times reported Tuesday that the all-cash buyout would bring the merged company up to a total of 9,500 screens, making it “the world’s second largest cinema chain by number of screens behind AMC Theatres, owned by China’s Dalian Wanda Group.”
Bipartisan congressional scrutiny of the Dalian Wanda Group, which has close ties to the Chinese Communist Party, was key to that company dropping its plans to branch into U.S. domestic television back in March. Lawmakers had expressed concern about a growing foothold by Beijing into U.S. entertainment-industry properties.
Regal’s shares are up 9 percent Tuesday on news of the announcement while shares of Cineworld, traded on the London Stock Exchange, are down 1.5 percent on on the London Stock Exchange.
• Ken Shepherd can be reached at kshepherd@washingtontimes.com.
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